How It All Began Part 1
by Caz939
Summary: This story includes fan couples. Shadrina Espphire Knuxilley. There is also Sonadow and Taiream/Taismo even Tairina another fan couple Tails is Sapphires brother. Please do read this!
1. The accident

He pushed me down on to the bed. I felt the mattress push against my back. He kissed me, lightly on the lips. My eyes were closed. I felt him pull away from me. Curious to know what was wrong I opened my eyes.

He smiled at me as I looked into his amber coloured eyes. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met." He whispered to me. I smiled. I pulled him down towards me. "You are the most handsome boy I have ever met."

He smiled as I pulled him down to kiss me once more. I nibbled delicately on his lower lip. I suddenly felt my teeth bite harder. I couldn't stop them. I felt my fists clench. My arms wrapped around his waist. They became tighter. I was almost crushing him. I was having a fit.

I couldn't let him go. He was obviously in pain. He tried to pull away from me, as my teeth dug deeper into his lip. I had lost control. I struggled to open my eyes. Once I had opened them, I wished I didn't.

His eyes were closed, tight. I saw blood coming from his lip. I tried to part my teeth from each other. I failed. My breathing became shorter. As if I was struggling to stay alive.

He obviously could tell something was wrong. He knew I would never hurt him on purpose. I hope. I felt a little control come back to me. I struggled to open my mouth, but I opened it wide enough for him to be freed.

He pulled away immediately. I lost control once more. My eyes slammed shut. My teeth crashed together again. My arms pulled him even closer to me. I felt a pain shoot through me. I imagined how much pain he must have been in. I didn't worry about myself as much as I worried about him.

I tried to control myself. I pulled my arms off him and they crashed into my waist. I was happy to know he was free, no matter how much pain I was going through.

He rolled to the side of me. I heard him pick up the phone. He dialled three numbers. I couldn't really make-out what he was saying, but I could hear the panic in his voice.

I opened my eyes. I could see white all around me. My vision was abit blurry though. As my eyes came into focus I could see that I was surrounded by white curtains. I looked down and I could see I had a white sheet over me with a pale blue sheet on top. I rubbed my eyes and sat up.

I looked to the side of me. I could see him sat in the chair beside me. He had a bandage around his waist and a small plaster on his lip. I didn't want to know what it looked like underneath. I suddenly remembered what I had done.

He smiled at me. "I was worried about you Sapphire." I felt tears come to my eyes. "Whats wrong?" He asked.

"Look at what I did to you!" I wiped my eyes. "I am so sorry Espio!"

He looked at the bandage around his waist. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't hurt." He poked it and winced a little bit. "See." I frowned.

"It obviously does hurt!" I sat up abit more. I felt a pain go through me. I grabbed my waist which just made it hurt more. I let go. I removed the blanket from me, to find I had a bandage around my waist too. "I am such an idiot!" I exclaimed. "How could I do this!"

He looked at me. "Sapphire, you couldn't stop what you were doing. You couldn't control it." As true as that was, I was still so annoyed at myself for doing this. I grabbed my waist and the pain shot through me again. I screamed in pain.

"Sapphire stop it!" He grabbed my arms and forced them away from me. I looked up at him. "Don't do that! If you do that then you ARE being an idiot!" I tried to struggle away from him. Only it was no use. I gave in.

I let my hands drop. "I can't believe I caused you so much pain!" I felt my eyes start to water. "I am so sorry!"

He smiled at me again. "Don't worry, I forgive you, just let it go." He let go of my arms and went to hug me. I pushed him away. He looked confused. "Whats wrong? Why won't you hug me?"

I looked at him. "What if I have another fit? I could hurt you again." He shook his head. He was about to speak when a doctor rushed in. Espio sat down.

"Hello there Sapphire, I am glad to see you are awake." The doctor said to me. Man I hate it when they do this, it's like they know everything about you! He explained to me what happened. Not that the news surprised me. I already knew what happened, I mean come on! I was there! "You should just stay here for a while to get some rest and you should be able to go home in no time." He looked at some charts and walked away.

"As if I didn't know what happened!" I whispered to myself. I heard Espio chuckle. I smiled slightly. "I wish I didn't have to stay here but I guess I do." I looked at him. "Will you have to stay here too?"

"I don't know they haven't told me anything yet. I avoid doctors." He said. I giggled. "Well it is sort of easy for me. I mean I can camouflage myself." I rolled my eyes at him.

"It is actually best to listen to the doctors Espio. That way you will know everything that happened and stuff." I thought about what I said. "Although, there isn't really any point in that because you would most probably already know what happened." He shook his head at me.

The curtains around us opened suddenly. We both looked to see who it was. "This place isn't half private is it! I mean look at all the curtains and stuff! Who knows what people could get up to!"

"Milley! What are you doing here!" I said. Okay abit of a stupid question.

"I am here to see the tooth fairy. She comes here a lot you know!" I shook my head. She smiled. "What do you mean what am I doing here! I am here to see you of corse! What did you manage to do to yourself!" She then looked at Espio. "Hey, what happened to you! You look terrible, not much of a change mind."

Espio looked at me. "That was my fault." I said shamefully. Oh no, please don't, please don't!

"God Sapphire! Your should be more gentle with him!" She shouted so everyone could hear. Damn. I glared at her, as my cheeks went red.

"Milley!" Me and Espio said together.

"This is actually quite serious." I said. Knowing that she is going to say something else now and yet again, getting the wrong idea.

"What? Are you pregnant or something?" She joked.

"I'm not! I had a fit! okay?" I burst out. She looked worried.

"I'm sorry Sapphire. Only one thing. How does that effect him?" She pointed to Espio. The both of us blushed and we both stayed silent. "So something did happen between you two! Yay! I was right!"

"No-no Milley! We were just kissing and that when I had the fit." I looked at Espio. He had camouflaged himself. Not very helpful.

"Damn it! I was wrong. Well that sucks." I smiled at her. "So are you going to be okay Sapphire?"

I nodded. "Should be!" I then smiled.

"Lets go home then!" She said trying to pull me out of the bed.

Espio appeared again. "She can't go home. The doctor said she needed to stay here and get some rest."

Milley glared at him. "Fine then!" She let go of my arm.

"Don't worry Milley I'll be allowed home soon!" I lent back. "I promise you."

She smiled. "See you then. I have to go now. I have a date." She waved goodbye as she left. Wait, did she say...a date? I wonder who with.

"Yeah, I had better go too." Espio said.

"To see a doctor?" I asked.

"No way! I am getting out of here!" He opened a window. "See you some other time." He jumped out. Okay that was abit random. I was now alone. I felt tired and it was getting late. I allowed myself to fall asleep.


	2. Shadow the hedgehog

It had been a week now. Almost everyone I knew came to see me. The doctors said that I was making good progress and that I should be allowed to come out today. I still had no clue who Milley went on a date with. She wouldn't tell me. She told me it was her little secret and I would have to figure it out.

Marina came back from her holiday. I have no idea where her parents get the money to take her holiday so often. I am guessing that Milley told her I was in hospital. She said she met someone on holiday, he was always very serious, but once you got to know him he was a 'nice' guy. Even if he acted like he hated everyone and wanted to kill you. Very nice indeed.

I had school tomorrow. It is now the end of summer vacation. Not a very good ending for me, but there you go.

I waved bye to my brother as he got on his bus. I waited patiently for mine to arrive. I felt something grab my hand. I looked down and saw nothing. I smiled. "Hi Espio."

He made himself visible. "You guessed correctly." I smiled at him. "You won a prize for two reasons!" I looked at him strangely. "The first reason you have won this prize is because you guessed who I was. The second reason I am giving it to you, is to welcome you back. Now close your eyes."

I did so. I heard him walk behind me. "What are you doing Espio?" He didn't answer. I felt him put something over my head. It felt like a piece of string.

He walked back in front of me. "Done!" I looked down. He had given me a necklace. It was blue and black shaped like a heart, it had four beads coming from each side of the heart.

I looked at him. "It's beautiful!" I hugged him. "Thank you Espio!" He hugged me back. I suddenly remembered what had happened the last time I had hugged him, so I pushed away. "Sorry Espio, I don't want to go through that thing again. I don't want to hurt you." I kissed him instead.

The bus arrived. 'Oh, now it comes!' I thought. We both walked up the steps together. Milley was already on. I sat next to her. "You all better now?" She asked me.

"I sure am. I don't really understand why I had to stay in there though. I mean it wasn't that bad!" Okay white lie.

"uh-huh." She poked me gently in my stomach. It hurt.

"Ow! Okay, okay it was sort of bad. They didn't have to keep me in there though." I said.

"Hey Fire, have you heard about that boy Marina has met on holiday?" Milley asked me.

"If you mean the one that seems like he wants to kill you, but once you get to know him he is 'nice'? Then yes, I have."

She laughed at me. "That's the one, she really does like him y'know? She told me so."

I nodded. "She made it abit obvious that she likes him Milley, you know she always makes it obvious. Hey, did she mention his name to you at all?"

She thought about this for a while. "Come to think of it, no she hasn't. Knowing her she is going to make a nickname for him like you normally do. Only your ones are stupid!"

"Hey!" I said trying to defend myself.

"What they are! Fire you may be the smartest in the class, but you still can't think up good nicknames for boys! Lets hope that you never have a son!"

I laughed at her. The bus stopped. Marina's stop. She ran on the bus. "Hey girls! Saph are you okay now?"

Milley answered for me. "Yes she is fine, and it's Fire not Saph."

"Ha, ha. Oh by the way! How did your date go with knuckles!?!" Marina asked. Milley gasped. I smiled.

"Knuckles! That's who you went out with!" I said.

"Marina!" Milley said.

"Didn't she already know?" She looked at Milley. "I guess not."

"I wanted her to guess, see if she is as smart as people say she is." I folded my arms and pretended to be cross at her. She poked her tongue out at me.

"Sorry." Marina said abit late.

"So Milley how did the date go?" I asked curiously.

"I'm not telling." She teased.

"Okay!" I said, trying out reverse psychology, see if it would work to my advantage.

"Awwwww! Please tell us!" Marina pleaded. Damn I guess that method wouldn't work now.

"Never! But, I do have something to say!" Me and Marina looked at her. "Well more like a question I guess. It's for you Marina."

"Well I am not answering that question until you answer ours!" I laughed. Here we go again.

"Wait, we need a question for you too!" Milley said pointing at me.

I shrugged. "I haven't got any secrets to tell." Well that was a massive lie! But I continued anyway. "So that means, no questions for me to answer." They both stared at me. Then the bus stopped. Wait, the bus doesn't normally stop here! I looked towards the front of the bus. As did everyone else.

A black and red hedgehog came on. He looked really angry at something. I heard Marina gasp beside me. It couldn't be, could it? He had red eyes. And he was staring at Marina. Oh! It is.

"Excuse me!" I called to him. He looked at me. "Hey! Er, I was wondering," Marina looked at me. She knew that I knew who he was. "Whats your name? If you don't mind me asking?"

He glared at me. He did look like he wanted to kill me. "I am Shadow," He said in a dark mysterious, voice. "Shadow the hedgehog."

I smiled at him. "Well welcome to our school! Well technically the bus, but still!" I put my hand out to shake hands. He just looked at me. "Oh! By the way, I am Sapphire, people call me Saph or Fire either one, and these are my friends Milley and Marina." I gestured to the both of them. "Would you like to sit with us?"

He was still glaring at me. He didn't seem to care what I was saying. "No, not really, I don't want to sit next to a bloody fox and her friends thank-you." He carried on walking down to the back of the bus. He sat next to Espio and Knuckles.

"Well, he seems nice." Milley said.

I frowned. "Well at least he said thank-you." I then looked at Marina. "So that's him huh?"

She nodded. "That's who?" Milley added. I smiled at her. She then realised. "Oh my God! He's the guy that wants to kill everyone!" I laughed at her.

"Guys! Be quiet will you. Please?" Marina blushed. "Yes, you are right. It is him."

"Whats he doing in our school then?" Milley asked.

"I have no idea." Marina said. I looked back at him. I could recognise him from somewhere, and his name. I know I hadn't met him before, so where had I seen him? The bus stopped. I got off the bus. Milley and Marina were still talking about Shadow and about Knuckles too now.

I looked over to Shadow again. He was with Espio and Knuckles. I am guessing that he is going to join their group soon. Otherwise he already had. "Hey! Fire!" I felt someone flick my ear. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I am fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I answered "And Milley, please don't flick my ear again."

"Awwwww! But it's fun! And I asked because you are not contributing to our conversation over here!" Milley said to me.

"That's because she is staring at her boyfriend, again! You haven't even been going out for long." Marina teased.

"No. In fact I wasn't, I was looking at Shadow." Bad answer from me!

"Ooo! Careful Sapphire what if Espio finds out you are crushing on the new guy?! What do you say to that Marina!?" Milley asked.

"Well, I say, er." Marina started to say.

"Er! That's all you can say! Fire is crushing on your future husband!" Trust Milley to say that! This surprised both me and Marina.

"What on earth!" Marina shouted. "Why do you say that!?"

I just Laughed. "Well," Milley started. "You obviously love him."

Marina blushed. "I do not!" "Do too!" "Do not!" I turned my attention back to Shadow. I really did recognise him from somewhere, but where?

The bell rang. Now we have maths. My second favourite lesson of the day! As per usual our teacher gave us a seating plan. I had to sit next to knuckles. Milley was sat next to Espio. Which is defiantly not going to go well. And finally, Marina was next to Shadow. I am sure she was happy about that.

Knuckles was stuck on the first question. How he manages to get through the school year, I have no idea. I had to help him through out the whole of maths. I hope he actually learnt something and didn't just copy me the whole time.


	3. Sonic's secret

Before I knew it we were on our way home. The first day always seems like a blur. Well, to me at least. I jumped off the bus and waved to Milley. Wait, it's Monday, that means I have a meeting today! Ah great! I ran down the street to my house.

I rushed in through the door slamming it behind me. I then ran up the stairs and up to my room. I grabbed my navy uniform , tied my hair up in a low pony tail and got dressed.

I walked into the building. "Hey, Fire!" I heard someone call. I span round to see who it was.

It was Rouge. "Oh, hey Rouge! I haven't seen you in a while." I smiled.

"I know it's been agers! Anyway, today I heard the boss has changed all the missions round again." She sighed.

"Joy!" I said sarcastically. "Wonder what we will all have to do this time."

"I have no idea. Only I have heard that a few people actually have five missions to complete! I hope I am not one of them. I wish we could just stick to the missions we have already."

"Still have a crush on the guardian of the Master Emerald huh?" I asked her smiling.

"Duh! He is just so stupid, which makes him very funny. Plus the way he can just sit back and relax, even though he is the protector of one of the most important things on this planet! I feel as if I know everything about him!" She exclaimed.

"Rouge, you don't even know his name!" She smiled. I then continued. "And it would be impossible for you two to be together. Your mission, at the moment, is to find out who he is and take him prisoner so that we can make him help us to use the power of the master emerald. Or to understand it at least."

"That's the most difficult thing about all of this." I smiled.

"Rouge, Sapphire, we are ready for you to come in now." I heard someone call. How dare they interrupt our conversation!

We walked into the room together. "Take a seat girls." Here we go. We both sat down. Our boss, what ever the hell his name was, turned around. "It has come to my attention that neither of you have completed the tasks you have been given. This is why I am going to give you different ones. Rouge, you will only have to complete two tasks. Your first one is to-"

I decided to stop listening. I knew that this would not have to involve me much more. "-you may leave now, and start working on how you will accomplish them." Okay, now I had better listen. Rouge left and closed the door behind her.

"Sapphire, you will have to complete five tasks." FIVE! You have got to be kidding me! "You can take as long as you want on these." Wow! how amazing I almost had a panic attack, but now that I know I can take my time that is just great. I don't want this to take over my life you know! "These would take too long for me to explain and I have a lot of people to get through, so you can just take these files and read over them. They should tell you what you need to know." I nodded and picked up the five files that were in front of him. I then left the room and sighed. I guess I had better get to work.

I ran up the stairs and started to read about my new missions. Apparently I had Rouges old one, so that one should be easy enough. My next one was about some princess. I had to find out who she was and take her back to her old country. That had to be the worst one. Why should I have to take care of some princess, she is most probably going to be very spoilt.

This task sounds interesting. Apparently some ninja or something like that is spying on G.U.N. Its not hard to wonder why. I will have to stop him. Well that is going to be impossible. Why do I have to be one of the people with five tasks!

Forth one, well that is just stupid! No one in the world is immortal! Plus if someone was why would we have to take them in. They haven't done us any harm. Not that I know of at least. G.U.N. most probably want to get rid of them because they are different. As per usual.

My fifth task was horrible. I had to track down the ultimate life form and destroy him! They most probably want this job complete because I know that he is quite strong. I remember doing research on him before.

Well these are the worst things I have ever been given! Most of them are violent and someone always gets hurt in some way or another. I guess my best one is Rouges old task. Maybe I will do the ultimate life form one first. Just to get it over and done with.

I logged on to the computer and found all my research that I had found about him before. I then read a description of him that I had also found a while ago. "Wait a second," I stood up and ran to get my note pad. I opened it to about the thirtieth page, I draw a lot, I saw a picture I had drawn along time ago.

It was of a black and red hedgehog. He had red eyes and white chest fur. My picture suited the description I had found and looked like Shadow. "It can't be." I gasped. "It just can't be. I knew I recognised him from somewhere but, it's impossible to believe that he could be the ultimate life form."

I ripped the picture out of my notepad and printed off all my research about Shadow the hedgehog. I placed them all in the file about him. "I wont do anything yet." I said to myself. "Not until I am certain. Not until I have finished my others tasks." I put the file into my satchel.

It was getting late and I was still doing research on the ultimate life form. I didn't want it to be Shadow because I knew Marina liked him. I saved everything I had found out on to the computer. I then went to bed.

My alarm went off. I opened my eyes. All I could see in front of me was black and blue. I screamed and pushed what ever was in front of me away. I heard what ever it was fall over. "Ow! Sapphire what was that for!" My brother yelled at me.

"You shouldn't have been staring at me when I am asleep! I didn't know it was you in front of me anyways!" I shouted. I helped him up. "You okay Tails?"

He nodded. "Mum said you have to take me into school today."

"What! Why?" He shook his head. "Fine, hurry up and get dressed."

"I am dressed." I looked at him. Then at myself. I was the one not dressed.

"Fine, then get out of my room so I can get dressed!" I then pushed him out of my room and closed the door. I quickly got dressed. I suddenly remembered Shadow. I decided to take the picture of him, that I had drawn, into school. Just to make sure that I had that much right. I placed it in my pocket and ran down the stairs.

I walked into the school. Our bus had just arrived and everyone was jumping off. I walked into the building and went to where me and the girls normally 'hang out'. I saw Milley and Marina, I then saw that Espio was there too.

"There you are!" Milley said to me. "Where were you?"

I smiled. "I had to take Miles to school today." I then went over to Espio and hugged him. "Why are you here?"

He kissed me lightly. "I wanted to stay here for abit." I smiled.

"So guys what do you want to do?" All of them shook their heads.

"There is nothing to do in this school." Marina commented.

"The only thing we can do is chuck food at each other." Milley said as she threw a crisp at me. I laughed a little and threw the crisp back at her. "Hey! What was that for!" I poked my tongue out at her.

I could then hear people walking down the stairs behind me. They were whispering to each other. I turned around to see who it was. It was Sonic and Silver. "Just say something to her, will you?" I heard Silver say to Sonic. He nodded. Sonic then started to walk towards me as Silver went some where else.

"Hey Sapphire?" I heard Sonic say to me. I looked at him.

"Yes Sonic?" I said as I turned around.

"Can I talk to you for a second? Please?" He asked.

"Okay, shoot." I said.

He looked past me at the other girls and at Espio. "Er...In private?" I was wondering what he wanted.

"Okay." I said unsurely. He guided me out of the school building. He grabbed my hand and started to run. He ran to a little, private place where there was no one around. He let go of my hand and looked at me. "Whats wrong Sonic?" I asked.

"I don't know exactly how to say this." He started to say. He looked away. "I-I just wanted to tell you that...well I have to tell you that…" He stopped.

"What is it?" I said trying to make him continue. He suddenly pulled me towards him and kissed me. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't expecting him to kiss me, of all things. I pushed him away. "What are you doing?" I said sternly.

"I love you okay!" He let me go. "I have since I met you in primary school. I just never knew what to say to you! I thought that you would never like me. I thought you would just laugh at me."

I was almost speechless. I had known for Sonic for years. I knew that once I did have a tiny crush on him, but telling me now, when I had a boyfriend, it was obviously too late. "Sonic, why didn't you just tell me back then! I never would just laugh at you. Why do you choose to tell me now! Espio is the first boyfriend I have ever had, and you choose to tell me while I am going out with him!"

He looked down, as if he was disappointed in himself. "I-I'm sorry. It's just, I had to tell you. I couldn't bear to see you with him, with out letting you know how I felt. I thought maybe I had a chance and if you told me no, then maybe, I could move on. Sapphire you have to understand, I don't want to ruin your relationship with Espio. I am glad to see you are happy, I just wanted to ask, if you felt, the same, way?"

I looked at him. He looked really upset. "Sonic, listen. I don't feel the same way. I am sorry. I am just not the right person for you. Trust me, I am sure, someone in this school really does love you. Once you stop paying attention to me, then you will see who I mean." He looked a little confused. I kissed him on the cheek lightly. "Good luck then." He nodded.

"Sorry if I caused you any trouble at all. I just-"

I interrupted him. "Don't worry, I understand." I then left and went back to the others.

"So what did Sonic want with you Sapphire?" Marina was first to ask.

"It was nothing really. He just wanted to know something." I said. I didn't want to tell them what he really wanted to know.

"Is that it!" Milley said. "Then why didn't he just say here?"

"I don't know. I guess really you are supposed to ask him that aren't you?" She nodded. I then noticed Espio wasn't here anymore. "Hey, where did Espio go?"

"Oh yeah! He went to find you." Marina told me. Oh no.

I started to worry. What if he saw me and Sonic when we kissed? "Sorry guys! I have to go!" I quickly ran out the door and went to find Espio.

I suddenly saw him with Shadow and Knuckles. He looked upset. I ran over to him. "Espio? Whats wrong?" I asked pretending nothing had happened.

"How could you?" He said to me. Great, he saw.

"Espio I-I didn't. You have to understand that I-" He interrupted me.

"You know what, I don't want to hear it. Just consider us over! Okay?" He said to me. I had no clue what to say, or do.

"I'm sorry." I said. He then glared at me.

"Is that all you can say!" He shouted at me. "You go off with some other boy, kiss him and then all you can say to me, your boyfriend- ex-boyfriend, is sorry!"

"Well, I don't know what to do, if you won't listen to me." I said.


	4. The Art Lesson

"Why should I listen to you!" He shouted. "What could you possibly make up, to make me forgive you!"

"Not something I made up! The truth! This is what happened He kissed me! He was telling me how he used to have a crush on me and he kissed me! Well, not exactly in that order. He didn't know how to tell me. So then he kissed me. Espio, you have to believe me!" I begged. He just looked away. "You can ask him yourself! In fact, hold on."

I walked away to find Sonic. I spotted him. He was with Silver. "Sonic!" I called. He looked at me. Once I was right next to him I started to explain everything. "-So please, will you explain to him what happened."

He looked at me, he could tell I was upset. "Okay Sapphire, I will. Just stay here." I waited patiently for him to come back. Please believe him Espio, please. I was thinking to myself. I suddenly saw Sonic walking back. "I got him to believe me." He said.

I was so happy. "Oh! Thank-you Sonic! Thank-you so much!" I hugged him. I then let him go and ran back to where Espio was. I wrapped my arms around him. "Do you forgive me?" I asked almost in tears.

"I guess so. I'm sorry I didn't believe you." He said to me. I smiled.

"You had no right to believe me." I said to him.

The bell rang. Wow, all that happened before school! "Bye Espio!" I waved to him as I ran to the others.

I saw Milley and Marina. "Hey girls! Sorry I left you."

"It's okay Fire." Marina said.

"Yeah, we forgive you, as long as you don't do it again!" Milley added. I just laughed and sat down next to them.

"So are you going to ask him out Marina?" Milley asked, obviously continuing their conversation from earlier.

"I don't think so. I mean, we hardly know each other." Marina said.

"On about Shadow huh?" I asked. Milley nodded.

"He just seems like the kind of person, who wouldn't like me." Marina continued.

"Of corse he would like you!" I said.

"Yeah! I mean why wouldn't he?" Milley asked.

"Well, what I mean is, how would I know my love for him is pure? I mean just before the holidays I was madly in love with-" Marina was interrupted.

"Hi Marina." I looked up and could see Manic, Sonics brother. "I was like wondering if-" The bell rang. "I like, have to go, sorry." He then walked away to class.

"Well that was odd." I said.

"Yeah!" Milley agreed. "I mean first Sonic goes up to Sapphire, then Manic goes up to Marina. God I hope Sonia doesn't come up to me!" Me and Marina laughed at her.

Now we all had art. The corridor was swarming with many different people all heading to different classes. It was very difficult to even take one step forward. I suddenly saw Shadow by the art rooms. Good, this means I can maybe find out abit more about him. I pushed my way through the crowd pulling Milley and Marina behind me.

Shadow spotted me. "Oh, great, don't tell me you are in this class too!" He said.

I smiled. "I sure am, maybe we can get to know each other better!" He glared at me. "Or not." I whispered. He looked away from me. I have to get this guy to talk to me! "Shadow?"

He looked at me. "What do you want now you bloody fox."

I want you to stop being stubborn, is what I want! "I want to get to know you abit. I mean come on, we are just ordinary children in an ordinary school." He picked up on what I was getting at. He looked away again and folded his arms in a child like manner.

Marina was gazing at Shadow at the moment. Milley and I were chatting. "So how much would you say you like Espio, Fire?" She asked me.

"That's an easy question to answer! 50! Meaning I think we are okay. Only I don't think that it will work out"I smiled. I was attempting to confuse Milley abit. It wasn't working. "Okay, I answered that now you answer this, how much do you like Knuckles?"

"Hey! I am not even dating him!" She said.

"Only you have been on a date with him." I reminded her.

"That's true. Well I guess I like him around about...60" She answered.

"Why so low?" I asked, curious to know.

"Because, I hardly know anything about him. I would have said 70, but that's an odd number." I rolled my eyes at her.

I then turned to Marina. "Hey Marina?" She looked up at me. I noticed she had been drawing hearts over her book. "I think that, is classed as graffiti in this school." I pointed to her book.

"Oops, I didn't even realise I was doing that." She said as she rubbed them out.

"So you are crushing on Shadow!" Milley said so that he could hear. Marina covered Milley's mouth. I looked to Shadow. He looked abit awkward. I heard Amy and Sonia giggle. Typical reactions.

"Please Milley, be abit quieter." She whispered.

I shook my head then whispered to Marina. "Marina and Shadow sitting in a tree," Milley joined in. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage." We both laughed as Marina sank down in her chair and cringed.

"Please stop." She begged.

"Never!" Milley answered. "We all know you love him!"

I smiled. "Okay, okay we will. Besides, Shadow looks very uncomfortable hearing this anyway!"

"Yeah, I bet he has never had a girlfriend before!" Milley added. "Hey Shadow! Will you go out with Marina?"

He glared at Milley. "No." he then carried on with his work.

"See, I am not surprised he hasn't had a girlfriend with that attitude." Milley continued.

I was trying not to laugh. "Come on Milley, I am sure he has had many girlfriends in the past, and if he hasn't then that's nothing to be ashamed of."

He was ignoring us all. "Sorry Shadow." Marina said. "Just ignore them both."

"Hey I don't want to be ignored thank-you very much!" Milley said immediately.

"I am trying to be nice. Don't tell Shadz to ignore me." I added.

"Don't call me that!" His gaze was on me once more. "Only friends can call me that!"

"Okay Shadow, I won't anymore." I said.

"Now I know how to annoy you!" Milley said triumphantly. "Shadzy!" Sonia and Amy giggled again. I was trying not to join them. "Hey! Shadzy! Don't ignore me!"

Marina put her hand to her face. The bell rang. Everyone flooded out the door. Shadow seemed relieved to be away from Milley and I. "I hate you two so much right now." Marina said to us.

I smiled innocently. "I didn't do anything."

"Just wait until next art lesson Marina!" Milley said. I guess we have completely different minds. "Now that I know he is in our art class, Imagine the amount of things I can come up with!"

"Hey Marina!" Marina turned around. It was Amy and Sonia. "Is it true you fancy Shadow!" Sonia said.

"It is isn't it! I can tell when someone is in love!" Amy added.

"I'm not in love! I don't fancy anyone!" Marina exclaimed.

Amy and Sonia looked at each other. "Sure you don't!" Amy teased. They then walked off giggling.

"Well, that's what we get for being in their art class." I said.

"WE! Don't you mean me?" Marina sounded a little annoyed. "Please don't ever do that again. That was so embarrassing!"

"Okay Marina. We won't." Milley said. I then joined in. "We promise!" I noticed Milley had her fingers crossed. I rolled my eyes.

"Thank-you! Now lets go to Welsh!" Marina exclaimed.

"WELSH!" Milley sounded shocked. "No! Marina, Fire, tell my family that I love them!" She then collapsed on the floor in a heap.

I sighed. "Come on Milley, it's not that bad." I started to try and pull her. It didn't work. "Fine then. Hard way." I grabbed both her arms and started to fly.


	5. Chapter 5

"No! No! Let me go! I can walk!" Milley shouted. I dropped her.

"Okay come on then." I said. We walked downstairs to Welsh. People didn't seem to be in much of a rush to get there. Especially Milley. Marina and I were still dragging her along to make her come. I looked towards our Welsh class, Knuckles was there, so was Silver. "Hey, Milley. Looks like we have a class with Knuckles and Silver now." I said pointing towards them.

"Knuckles!" She started to walk towards the classroom.

"Oh! So that's what makes her walk faster!" Marina laughed. I smiled.

"Yeah, well it is Milley." I added.

"That's true." Marina agreed.

I noticed when Silver saw Milley walking over to him and Knuckles he backed away and went to talk to someone else. Something must be happening there. Milley and Marina didn't even seem to give it a second thought. Maybe I am just too obsessed with love.

I realised that Marina had caught up with Milley, and I had just been standing there. I quickly ran over to them. Knuckles blushed a little when he saw Milley walking over to him. She just smiled and started to talk to him. I guess it's a good thing when you are as open as Milley, sometimes.

The teacher quickly called everyone into the class. We all sat down in our assigned seats. I noticed Silver seemed happy to be next to Milley. Unfortunately for me though, I am next to Sonic, very awkward. Where as Marina was sat next to Manic.

I soon realised that Amy was in front of us. The first thing she did in the lesson was pass a note back to Sonic. He sighed and read it out loud, but just in a whisper. "Are you free tomorrow afternoon?" He read. "Humph! No." He wrote as he said it. I shook my head.

I do sometimes feel sorry for Sonic. Almost every girl in school is falling for him. Maybe he just wants to be left alone. I decided maybe it would be best if I got on with my work and blanked out everything that was going on around me.

The bell rang. Everyone dashed out of class opening their bags and getting their lunches. I was last out of class again. "Hey Sapphire." Sonic grabbed my arm. I looked at him. "I am sorry about earlier."

I smiled. "It's okay Sonic. Just forget about it." I paused. "I know why you did that, I understand." He smiled and let go of me. "See you later okay?" I said as I walked away. He nodded.

I caught up with Milley and Marina. "God Saph! Why did you take so long?" Marina said.

I smiled. "Sorry, I was talking to Sonic about something."

"Ooo, you had better not be cheating on your boyfriend!" She teased. "And if you are, good for you! I never thought you had it in you!"

I put my hand to my head. Typical.

We walked down the corridor together. I saw Shadow waiting outside a Spanish class. I noticed it was Espio's. I think that Shadow has joined there group now. He suddenly looked up at Marina when we were walking past, I guess he could hear us, we were being quite loud. He was about to say something to her, then he saw me. He backed away again and went back to leaning against the wall waiting for Espio.

I rolled my eyes. He doesn't seem to trust me. I am not surprised, I am the most untrustworthy person in the school, even if no one knows it. The amount of friendships I would lose, it would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, no one has a clue, and I don't plan on letting anyone know I work for G.U.N. anytime soon. That reminds me I still need to work out who these people are. Maybe I will work on-. I was so caught up in what I was thinking I walked into a door. "Ow!"

Milley burst out laughing and couldn't seem to stop. I rubbed my nose. Marina Laughed too. "Hey Fire, you are supposed to open the door!" Milley said through her laughing. I blushed.

"Hey are you okay Sapphire?" I heard someone call. I turned around to find it was Espio and Shadow. I guessed Espio was the one who spoke. Shadow was smirking.

"As long as you pretend you never saw that, I will be fine." I answered still rubbing my nose. I spotted Milley still laughing. "That's not going to happen."

He smiled at me. "I didn't see a thing." He then walked away with Shadow. Milley was struggling to stand up. She was leaning against the wall, trying to hold herself up.

"Milley, it wasn't that funny." I said embarrassed.

"Yes it was." She continued with her laughing fit. "You are like the smartest kid in school! Yet you still manage to walk into doors!"

"That means there is no hope for the rest of us." Marina said.

"Come on lets just go." I said changing the subject. We then went to our little, private corner. Many people passed there and that meant most people knew who we were. I sat down on the floor and continued to think to myself about my other life, my secret life.

I think the next person I should work on is the guardian of the Master Emerald. If I complete this mission, I will have more time to finish the others too. Rouge said that the Master Emerald was on some sort of floating island. I think she said she over heard him calling it, Angel Island, or something like that. Maybe I should get the co-ordinates for this place. That way I could work out the exact location and I could maybe go undercover, make him my friend. Then G.U.N. will make the last move for me.

I am guessing I will have enough time to do that after school today. "Hey Saph! Hellooo?" I looked up. "You are being very quiet," Marina said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking." I answered.


	6. First encounters

"What were you thinking about?" Marina asked sitting down next to me.

"Just...er." I didn't really know what to tell her, I knew I couldn't tell her I was thinking about G.U.N. "I was thinking about things I have to do tonight." I answered pathetically.

"So what are you doing tonight?" Milley asked curiously, as she sat next to Marina.

"Just babysitting my brother and homework, normal things." Well at least I answered abit faster this time.

"How is doing homework normal?" Milley asked. Me and Marina both laughed at her. I suddenly spotted something on the ground. I couldn't see what it was properly.

"Hold on guys." I stood up and walked over to the object laying disregarded on the floor. I picked it up. It was a metal shuriken. I suddenly remembered one of my many missions. "The ninja." I whispered to myself. I placed it in one of my pockets.

I walked into my bedroom and took the shuriken out of my pocket. I placed it on my desk. I decided maybe I should investigate on this task before the others. I looked out my window it was starting to get dark. Maybe I should go to the G.U.N. base now. Maybe I will catch someone. I mean they wouldn't have taken this to school unless they were planning on going to the G.U.N. base.

I put on a black mask hoping I would blend in, without letting the person realising my identity. I then put on my usual navy blue uniform. I picked up my sketch pad and my pencils, placed them in my black bag. I knew that if I had brought a camera and took a picture of this person they would hear the click. I then set off to the base.

I knew that there would only be one place in the entire building where they would be most likely to go. I walked down to the room with all the filing cabinets in. I moved one forward slightly and slipped down behind it. I pulled out my sketch pad and pencils and looked through the gap between two cabinets. I could see pretty clearly. I was looking at a small window, outside all you could see were trees. It looked very peaceful.

I was starting to give up. I had been waiting here for ages for this 'ninja' to show up. Perhaps I had missed him.

I was about to get up and leave, when I heard the window slowly creep open. I pushed myself further into the shadows of the cabinets. I heard a draw being opened, so I looked through the gap. I could see him perfectly. He was shifting through the papers hurriedly. I held my breathe, trying to stay silent, hidden.

I picked up my pencil delicately. I silently started to sketch the outline of the ninja's mysterious figure. Each line had to be perfect. I saw a shadow Slowly creep down the page of my sketch book. I looked up. I was so grateful I had worn a mask.

The ninja looked at what I was sketching. I became scared. I stayed completely still, I didn't even speak. It was like I had turned into a statue. The ninja merely reached his hand down, slowly pulling my sketch book out of my grasp. He suddenly ripped the picture out in one swift movement.

He threw my sketch book down by my feet. I still hadn't taken my eyes off him. He took my drawing with him, looked at me one last time before making his escape out the window once more. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I rubbed my eyes as I tiptoed down the stairs. Miles was already at the table eating his breakfast. He turned to me as he heard me walking over to him. "Hey Sapphire, your up late today." He said through a mouthful of cereal.

I frowned. "Please swallow before you speak, I don't wish to see whats in your mouth." He swallowed and poked his tongue out at me. I did the same. I reached up into the cupboard, to grab some cereal and a bowl. "I know I am up late, I am walking to school with Marina and Milley, trust me, its faster than the bus." I sat down at the table pouring the cereal into the bowl and the milk on top.

"So are they going to pick you up?" He asked curiously, while trying to hide the hopefulness in his voice.

I smiled. "Yes. Even though the bus picks me up second, I swear our bus route is so complicated." I noticed that Tails was smiling. "Why are you smiling all of a sudden?"

"Oh, I just, er, thought of something Cosmo told me yesterday." He said, he was obviously lying.

"You mean your girlfriend!" I teased.

"She is not my girlfriend! She is just a friend who happens to be a girl! I don't even like her that much." Tails sounded a little defensive.

"Yeah, I believe you. Its just so easy." He frowned at me. "Besides, I know who you really like."

This then caught his attention. "What do you mean?" I noticed his cheeks were going pink. "I don't like anyone!"

I rolled my eyes. "Typical boy, too afraid to admit anything." He glared at me. "Your burning a hole in my face, stop it!" I joked. He shook his head.

"You stole that line from a film." He complained. I knew I had heard it from somewhere!

We heard the doorbell ring. I quickly ran to the door and answered it. It was Milley and Marina. "Hey girls! Come in. I just have to get my bag." They stepped into the house and waited by the door.

"Saph, we have to go soon if we want to beat the bus there." Marina said as I ran into the kitchen to get my school bag.

"I know, I know. Hold on a second." Tails looked at me.

"Is that Marina?" He asked.

"And Milley yes." I answered. He jumped out of his chair and walked into the hall, trying to act casual.

I picked up the plates that were still on the table and placed them in the dishwasher. "Come on Fire! How long does it take to pick up a bag." Milley called in from the hall.

I closed the dishwasher and walked over to them, picking up my bag on the way. "It takes a while." I said. Tails was talking to Marina. He does this Everytime they come here. Talks to Marina twenty-four seven! Well I guess I have worked out who he likes. Milley and I were outside while Tails was still talking to Marina inside. I rolled my eyes. "Tails stop flirting with Marina and let her come with us!"

He cringed. "I am not flirting! I am just having an ordinary conversation!"

"As I said, you deny everything." I smiled. I think he then got annoyed.

"Fine you go to school then. Bye Marina." Marina walked over to us, while Tails slammed the door behind her.

"Please don't say he honestly does like me." Marina pleaded.

I shrugged. "I am not really sure, but hey its another way to annoy him." Marina smiled at me. "So I guess we have a long way to go."

"Yep, why did we want to do this again?" Milley asked.

"I don't know." Marina answered. They both looked at me.

"Hey it wasn't my idea. Although it is nice. I mean who wants to be on a dirty old bus when we have this much fresh air!" They were glaring at me. "Okay, so maybe it was my idea. I should run shouldn't I?"

"You should." Milley said as she tried to grab me. I quickly jumped up and started to twist my tails round allowing me to fly. I flew high enough so that they weren't able to grab me. "Hey! That's not fair!" Milley said jumping up and down trying to grab me.

"You will never catch me now!" I laughed. I started to fly ahead to school. They chased after me still trying to get me down. I eventually gave up and just stood on the ground.

Milley tackled me. "Got you!" She said. "I knew I would in the end!"

"Do you even remember why you were after me?" I asked trying to balance with Milley holding on to me.

She paused, then let go. "Can't you just let me have one moment!"

I shook my head. "Come on girls, we are running abit late." Marina interrupted. She started to walk ahead. Milley frowned. "Only kidding!" Marina turned around quickly then tackled Milley, causing them to fall. "Ow." They both said.

I laughed, collapsing on the floor myself. "Come on girls," I said through my laughing. "Marina was right, we had better go to school now, otherwise we will never get there."

"Fun spoiler!" Milley shouted. I then helped them both up.


	7. Saph or Fire?

"I wasn't being serious." Marina said as I helped her up. "It won't take us that much longer to get there Saph."

"It's Fire! How many times do I have to tell you!" Milley shouted poking Marina.

"It's Saph! Who would name their kid Fire!"

"Who would name their kid Saph?"

"You shorten a name by taking off the last few letters, in this case, the last 5."

"But I would never call you Mar! Or Mari! If I had to shorten your name I would call you Rina, that makes more sense!"

"But I wouldn't call you Ley! I would call you Mil!"

"You had better not call me that!"

I sighed. "Girls, it's a name! I don't mind if you call me Saph or Fire-" I started to say, I was interrupted by Milley.

"You don't have a choice in this matter. So shh!" She said to me. I shook my head.

"She does have a say!" Marina argued. "She can say which one she likes best!"

Oh no. They both looked at me. I could heard them whispering 'Saph, Saph, Saph.' And 'Fire, Fire, Fire.' I sighed. "Okay, okay! The one I like best is-" I paused. I didn't know what to tell them, they were both my friends! Well I guess there is only one way out of this. "Saph-" I paused. Milley looked upset and Marina jumped into the air. "-ire." I finished.

"What!" They both shouted.

"That wasn't an option!" Marina said. "You can't choose that!"

I smiled. "That's my name though."

"Shh! No it's not." Milley said.

"Why do I have to choose anyway? Can't you both just call me different nicknames, then everyone gets what they want." I said hoping they would forget about it.

"NO!" They yelled.

"Saph is such a common name!" Milley argued. I sighed.

"But she doesn't just randomly burst into flames every two seconds!" Marina argued back.

Milley looked at Marina weirdly. "Who said she did that? It's just a nickname."

This is my time to jump in. "Exactly! It's just a-"

I got cut off again. "Stay out of this Fire. It doesn't involve you."

"Yes it does, you are arguing over my name!"

"It's Saph!" Marina said jumping in abit late.

"Girls! Can we just go to school now?" I asked, interrupting their very 'important' argument.

"No!" Milley said.

"Yes!" Marina said. "That's an excellent idea!"

"How is it an excellent idea Rina?" Milley asked.

"One, don't call me that again, and two, because we can have a debate!" Oh no, not good. "We can both ask 10 people and see what they answer. Then which ever name gets the most votes wins!" Marina said 'knowing' that she would win.

"That is an excellent idea!" Milley said. "I am sure that I will win!"

"No I will!" Marina insisted.

"No I will!" Okay I have had enough of this.

"Girls! Can we please just get to school!" I shouted. "The sooner we get there, the more people you can ask, and we can get this over and done with!" They both nodded and we continued our journey to school, even though they were still arguing over who was going to win.

We arrived at the school. "Right! Lets list the people who are reasonably close to us!" Marina said, taking a note book and pen out of her bag. They then started listing names, including themselves.

In the end they managed to only get eight people. I read through the list. Amy, Sonia, Sonic, Manic, Knuckles, Silver, Espio and Shadow. Wait a minute! Shadow! "You can't ask Shadow!" I said. "He hates me!"

"Oh well, we needed one more person to make it even." Milley shrugged. "Now lets start asking!"

"Lets ask Shadow first." Marina said.

"Well you would choose to ask him first wouldn't you?" Milley teased. I stayed silent.

They both dragged me over to Shadow. "What do you want?" He asked as he saw us walking over to him.

"Hey Shadzy!" Milley greeted him. He frowned. "We are doing a debate. What would you call Sapphire? Fire or Saph?"

"Neither. She is not my friend, so I would never want to use her filthy name." He glared at me nastily.

"Then what would you use Shadow?" Marina asked trying to be polite.

"I call her bloody fox, which she is. Now leave me alone." He walked away from us.

"Okay! One person down! Seven to go!" Milley said as she wrote his answer down next to his name.

I poked my tongue out at him as he walked away. "Okay, who is next?" I asked anxious to get this over with.

"Well, we may as well go to Amy next, then sonia seeing as they are always together." Marina said.

"No not Amy!" Milley shouted. "You know I hate her!"

"Then we can get it over and done with!" Marina answered her back.

"Fine." We started to walk down to where Amy and Sonia were. They were both annoying Manic. "I take it we are asking Manic forth then huh?"

"We sure are!" Marina said enthusiastically.

We strolled over to Amy, Sonia and Manic. "Hey Girls!" Sonia called, spotting us first.

Amy turned to us. "Oh hey! Whats up?"

Marina spoke. "We are doing a debate. We are asking some people what they would rather call Sapphire. What would you three call her? Saph or Fire?"

"Saph!" Amy said immediately.

"I think I would rather Fire." Sonia argued. "Fire sounds more appropriate, more sophisticated."

"Says you! I think I would call her, well I would just call her dudette, like I call everyone else." Manic said.

"Yay! Thank-you Sonia!" Milley said cheerily.

"Thanks Amy." Marina wasn't being as enthusiastic as Milley was.

"Thank-you Manic!" I may as well thank him. No–one else did.

We quickly departed as the three hedgehogs argued amongst themselves. "Who next?" I asked curiously.

"My turn to choose!" Milley replied quickly. "I choose…" She looked down the list. "Knuckles!"

"Yes?" Someone behind us said. We span around so that we were face to face with Knuckles.

"Just the person we wanted to see!" Milley said. Knuckles smiled.

"Okay Knuckles, answer this: If you would nick name Sapphire what would you call her? Saph or Fire?" Marina asked.

"Oh that's simple." He said. "I would just call her Sapphire. She is a friend of mine and all but we're not that close." He winked.

"How dare you!" Milley joked.

"Okay we haven't got much time left. The bell is going to go soon." I said quickly so that we would hurry up.

We had done everyone now but Sonic. Espio had answered with 'anything because I was his girlfriend and it was up to me what he called me.' Silver just said 'Fire.' Because he knew that one was Milley's so now Marina only had two people (herself and Amy) and Milley had three (herself, Silver and Sonia.)

We walked over to Sonic. I waved. "Hey Sonic! They want you to answer a question." I pointed to Marina and Milley.

"Okay, what's the question then?" He asked.

"Well not that!" Milley said.

Marina laughed a little. "Okay, the question is, What would you call Sapphire? Saph or Fire?" Marina asked. She was hoping so much that he would answer with Saph and not Fire or anything else.

"Hmm, that's a toughie. How about I get back to you later okay?" The bell rang. Milley and Marina were now desperate for the answer.


	8. The realisation

We walked down the corridor to our next class. We had science which means we weren't allowed to talk. "I'm not a looser, I'm a winner, W-I-N-N-E-R!" Milley sang.

"Milley you have not won. The battle has not ended yet." Marina smiled. "If Sonic says Saph, then it will be a draw! So HA!"

I wasn't really paying much attention to the both of them. I was thinking about that mysterious ninja that I had encountered last night. His eyes looked so familiar. I knew that he went to our school. But who was he? I looked up as I thought. Who could it have been? I know that I have met him before-

"Hey Saph?" I heard.

"Its Fire!" Milley argued.

"No, it's Saph!"

"Fire!"

"Girls! Stop arguing over it! It's a stupid name!" I shouted. There was a pause. I had never shouted at anyone before. I let out a sigh. "Sorry, What's wrong Marina?" I asked, knowing she was the one who called me in the first place.

It took her a while to answer. "I was just going to ask what was wrong. You are being quieter than usual."

"I-It's just something that happened last night. Don't worry about it." I paused. " I am sorry I shouted." I looked at them.

"It's okay Sapphire." Milley said, trying to avoid the argument again.

"What happened last night?" Asked Marina curiously.

I looked at her. I knew I couldn't tell her. I sighed again. "I can't tell you."

"Ah, ha!" Milley said proudly. "So you do have a secret!"

I shook my head. "And it's going to stay a secret." I smiled. Milley glared at me.

The teacher called us into class. We all sat down, took out our books and our pencil cases. Like a good class does. Everyone knew not to get on Mr. Robinsons bad side. An hour with him, is torture!

"Argh!" Milley moaned, putting her hand to her head. "Man I hate that guy!"

I smiled as we walked out of the classroom. "He isn't that bad." I hated admitting when someone is just so horrible.

"Isn't that bad!" Marina gasped. "He is the worst."

"He isn't the worst." I said, thinking about some of the people in G.U.N. who teach in different schools. They both looked at me. I smiled. "Trust me. He isn't the worst."

"Okay then. I still don't believe you though. Anyway, what have we got next Marina?" Milley asked.

"I think we have," She paused as she thought about it. "English! That's what we have next."

"Oh, great!" I said sarcastically.

"No!" Milley moaned. "Why do they have to torture us so?"

"Milley, do you like any lessons in school at all?" marina asked.

Milley looked at Marina, with a shocked expression on her face. "Of corse I do!" She said sounding a bit stunned that Marina would think she didn't. "I like art, Shadzy is in that class with us!"

Marina and I put our hands to our faces. Typical. "You have really got to stop calling him that." Marina said.

I looked at my watch. Digital! Yay! I put the right watch on today! Man I love digital. I hugged my watch.

"Fire, is there something you are not telling us?" Milley said staring at me.

I stopped and came back to the real world. I smiled. "Nope nothing at all." I looked at my watch and actually looked at the time. "Crud. We are late."

"Oh well," Milley said. "Now we can kick back and relax!" She put her hands behind her head and leant against the wall.

"Milley." Marina shook her head. "Come on we haven't got time for this." She started to drag Milley to English.

I am sure that you don't want to hear about anymore boring lessons. I had decided to walk home. I was alone, it was peaceful and calming. I sat down on a bench that was placed in the middle of a park. I sighed. With all these missions to do, I am starting to get distracted from school. I mean all I could truly think about today was that mysterious ninja.

I felt like I wasn't even being a good friend to Marina and Milley. I didn't enjoy doing this job, but now, it's just apart of me. I just don't know what to do anymore. I know already that I have to betray two people that I know. Who will be next?

I heard someone sit down next to me. "Hey Sapphire, are you okay?" I looked up. It was Espio. "I haven't really seen you at all today."

"Hey Espio, I'm fine, I have just been a bit busy today is all." I said.

He smiled at me. "Well I am glad you are okay." He kissed me gently. "Hey, do you want to come over later?" He asked.

I smiled and looked into his eyes. I opened my mouth to answer, but then I realised. "No..." I whispered. He put his head to the side, wondering what I had said. "I can't Espio. I am sorry. I-er-really have to go. Bye." I ran off before he could stop me.

I knew the ninja's eyes looked familiar, yet I couldn't work out who it was. I can't believe that my boyfriend is also my enemy! I ran out of the park and home. I could feel tears building up inside of me. "It can't be him, it just can't be." I whispered to myself. "Please say I am wrong." No matter how much I tried to convince myself I was wrong, I knew I was right.

I ran upstairs with tears in my eyes. Fortunately no one was home to see me crying. I lay on my bed and wiped my eyes. How can my life be so unfair.

I grabbed my bag, which was now getting quite heavy with all the reports I was doing. It was now going to get even heavier. I reached out for my laptop and started to type up everything I knew about Espio. I could see my tears falling on to the keyboard. Once I had finished I wiped my eyes again. I printed page after page of work. I can't believe I am going to betray my only love.

I stapled all the pages together and placed them all in the ninja folder that I had. I placed the folder next to the one about Shadow. I had to get my mind off this now! I flicked through the files that I had been given. I will do the easy one, just to keep my mind off Espio.

I picked up the files about the Guardian of the Master Emerald. I picked up the phone and rang Rouge. I knew that she knew where the master emerald was kept.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey Rouge! Could you tell me the location of the Master Emerald please?" I asked.

"Yeah sure. It's on this floating island off the coast." She answered. "Are you okay Saph? You sound upset."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just something I found out." I said slowly.

"What did you find out?" Rouge asked.

"Who the ninja was, one of my missions." I sighed. "He is my boyfriend."

I heard Rouge gasp on the other side of the phone. "Oh! Poor you! I am so sorry. What does the mission involve doing?"

I took a deep breathe in. " I-I have to-" I paused, feeling my tears building up again.

"What do you have to do?" She asked again.

"Kill him." I said as fast I could.

She gasped again. "Oh no! I am so sorry!" I started to cry. "Sapphire please don't cry. I will come over and see you now-"

"No don't. I have to get my mind off him. That's why I am going to find the Guardian of the Master Emerald." I said quickly. I didn't really want to see her. She is a good friend, but she is just, way too open!

"Okay, I understand. See you soon Saph!" She hang up.

I sighed and put the phone down. I flew downstairs and out the door.

I was walking down the path which, I guessed, lead to the Master Emerald. It was very peaceful. Surrounded by trees. I then heard someone behind me. I could hear each footstep they were making. "Who is that?" They called to me. I decided to run. I ran off the path and into the forest. It was difficult dodging all the trees. I hid behind one tree then flew upwards and sat on one of the highest branches.

I looked down. I could see the person who was chasing me. But not very clearly. I could see that he was red, and he looked quite strong too. I held my breathe. "Show yourself." I heard below me. He looked up into the tree.


	9. Guardian

It was obvious he had spotted me. "Who are you? What are you doing here!" I sighed, I had been caught. I jumped down landing on my feet, with my back to this person. "Sapphire!"

Wait how did this person know my name? I turned around. It was knuckles. "Knuckles? What are you doing here?"

He paused. "Er, I found this place a while ago. It is, er, peaceful. So I come up here." He looked at me and smiled. "Why are you up here? And how did you get up here?"

Oh great what am I supposed to say to that? 'I am here to find the Guardian of the Master Emerald?' I don't think so. "Well, I...er...spotted this floating island off the coast." I lied. "And I decided to explore it. So I flew up here."

"So why were you running away from me then?" Knuckles asked curiously.

"Well, I er, thought maybe I wasn't allowed on this island. And I don't like causing trouble." I said trying to act innocent. I knew that fooling Knuckles would be reasonably easy.

"Oh, okay then. I am not actually sure we are allowed on here. Maybe we should both leave this island." He smiled.

I sighed. "Why don't we just explore it, I think it looks really pretty."

"But-I er, thought you didn't want to get into trouble." Knuckles objected.

"Come on Knux, I am sure people will understand, besides, you said you come up here all the time." He looked at me. I was not going to let him win this fight.

"Fine." He agreed. We walked around all parts of the island, it was really beautiful, but I knew I still had to keep focussed and look for the Master Emerald.

We had been right the way around the island, it seemed like Knuckles knew the place like the back of his gloved hand. He turned to me. "Well I guess that is all to show on this unique island." He said. I nodded in agreement. I couldn't help but feel disappointed that I hadn't found out anything about the Master Emerald and The Guardian of it. I am guessing I came to the wrong place.

I gave a half hearted 'Bye' to Knuckles as I flew off the island and back to my house.

The house was almost silent when I got home. All I could hear was Tails messing around with his machinery upstairs. I walked up the stairs to my bedroom. I looked at my mobile. I had two messages. I opened it up, wondering who they could be from.

First text from Milley. 'Hey Fire! You are now officially available on Saturday, because you are coming over.' Well that seems fair. It should be fun to get together with my friends again.

I felt my heart stop as I realised who the next text was from. Espio. 'Sapphire, have I done something to upset you? You didn't seem to want to be with me today in the park. You seemed like you couldn't' wait to get away.

Please tell me what I have done.' I felt tears starting to build up once more. I threw my phone across the room and collapsed on my soft bed. It felt so comforting. I sniffed and wiped my tears repeatedly, but they couldn't seem to stop. Espio meant so much to me, I wouldn't know what to do if I lost him. It would be dreadful.

I heard my alarm clock going off. I moaned as I stretched my arms out above me. I sat up, rubbing my eyes. I realised I was still wearing my clothes from yesterday. I wrapped my tails around myself and sighed. Fortunately it is Saturday. At last. I turned off my alarm and fell back on to my bed once more. I stared up at my plain white ceiling as it stared back at me.

I suddenly heard aloud ringing sound. It made me jump. I sat up, wondering where it was coming from. It was my mobile. I stepped out of my bed and walked over to it. Strange how it survived. I picked it up carefully and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Sapphire. It's Espio. You never answered my text last night, is everything okay between us?" He asked. I knew I couldn't tell him the truth, no matter how much I loved him, I couldn't tell him what was wrong with me. "Sapphire?"

"Sorry, yes Espio, everything is fine between us. I am sorry I didn't answer your text." I said starting to get upset all over again.

"Are you okay? You sound abit upset." He asked me.

"Yeah, I am fine. Just tired at the moment." I yawned. "I have only just woken up."

"Oh sorry! Did I wake you?" He apologised.

"N-no! You didn't wake me. My alarm went off just two minute before you rang." I smiled. It was nice to know that he still cared about me. I suddenly remembered Milley had invited me round her house today. "Oh no!" I gasped. "Sorry Espio, I really have to go! I said I would go over Milley's house."

He laughed at me. "Yeah, Okay Sapphire, see you soon."

I put the phone down. I ran to my wardrobe and saw my bag full of my reports. I sighed. Why couldn't it have been someone else. Anyone but my friends, anyone. I took the file about Espio out and gripped it with my two hands. I started to tare it apart. I couldn't. I knew I would get into trouble if I didn't complete what I was supposed to do. But that can't be worth losing someone I love so dearly, can it?

I shook my head trying to shake out the thought of Espio dying. I placed my papers back in my bag, stood up and started to trash my wardrobe as I hunted for some nice clothes.

I knocked on the door of the mansion. How in the world did Milley manage to afford this? I guess all my friends are rich but me. I waited patiently for Milley to answer the door. I suddenly felt someone jump on top of me. "AHH!" I screamed in shock and span around to see Milley. "You almost gave me a Heart attack!"

Milley laughed. I poked my tongue out at her. "Hey Fire! You're early! It's a miracle!"

I smiled as my tails swayed up and down. "I sure am!" I claimed. "Hey is Marina here yet?"

"Err...let me think...Nope! Not yet!" She said with her usual bubbly attitude. "How did you know Marina was coming too?"

"I am clever, that's how!" I said.

"Sure you are!" I sensed the sarcasm in her voice. She then walked passed me. She turned the handle on her door and started to walk forward. The door didn't budge. "Aww man! Not again!" She shouted punching her door.

"Locked out?" I laughed.

"No not at all!" Milley bent down and lifted up the welcome mat. She picked up the spare key. "You had better not be planning to steal anything from me." She said pointing the key at me.

"I won't, I promise! But why do you a plain old welcome mat, when you obviously have enough money to buy a much more expensive one?"

"Because the expensive ones are too snobby! Besides, as long as I have a welcome mat to hide my key under I am fine." She smiled.

"Shh Milley, what if someone heard you?" I exclaimed.

"Ah don't worry! I would find them and steal their things!" She said proudly as she unlocked the door. She stepped inside and dragged the key out of the lock. I stepped in after her.

"Wait up!" I heard someone call behind us. I turned around to see it was Marina.

Milley smiled, as if she was planning something. "Sapphire, get in here now!" She pulled me inside and slammed the door behind me.

I laughed. "Milley, don't be mean!" I heard Marina shouting through the door as she knocked.

"What ever your selling, were not buying!" Milley said. I laughed and sat on the floor watching.

"I am not selling anything! Honest!" Milley looked at me.

"Let her in." I said.

"Aww!" She opened the door. "Hi Marina! What are you doing out there!?"

I rolled my eyes. "So what are we all planning to do?" I stood up.

"Well firstly! We can talk!" Milley looked at me. "What has been wrong with you recently?"

"Is that the reason why we are all here?" I asked. "So that you could ask me that?"

"Yes! You have hardly been speaking to us!" Marina exclaimed. I sighed. Here we go again.

"There is nothing wrong with me. It's just…" I paused, I didn't know what to tell them. "I have been busy." They both glared at me.


	10. Friends

"Busy with what?" Milley asked, her eyes focussed on me.

"I-er-I am just...behind on homework." I lied.

"Sapphire, stop lying to us!" I was caught by Marina, of corse! "It is so obvious when you are lying! You can't keep eye contact and you stutter a lot. Plus, how could you behind on homework? You are always ahead with the homework."

"Yeah, God Fire!" Milley said, it was obvious she didn't even realise I was lying.

"Guys I-" I started to say.

Milley interrupted me. "Sapphire, what is so bad, that you can't even tell your closest friends?"

"Your not being bullied or anything are you?" Marina asked jumping to conclusions. I couldn't blame them mind, I haven't been that much of a friend.

"No, nothing like that at all." I smiled weakly. "I can't tell you what is really wrong. I am sorry. And I am sorry for not being much of a good friend." I looked down, my hair fell forward around my face.

"It's okay Sapphire, we are just worried about you is all." Marina wrapped her arms around me.

"Yeah." Milley joined the hug. "You are our friend Fire, it is our job to one, annoy you and two, to worry about you."

I smiled and hugged them both back. "Thank-you guys. It's nice to know I have such great friends." I should really tell them what is wrong. It is unfair to just make them worry about me. I sighed. I want to tell them so much. But how could I? Everyone at school has always known the one thing that happened to Marina. No-one can trust G.U.N., no-one at all.

"Fire?" Milley was first to interrupt the silence. "Are you going to be okay?"

I smiled and nodded. "I promise two things, one, I will be fine and two, I will be a better friend to you both."

"Okay, lets stop with this now, we came here to have fun!" Marina said hopefully.

"Of corse we did!" Milley said. "Well what do you want to do? Computer, Tv, eat?" She listed.

I smiled. "Er, could we eat? I didn't have breakfast again today."

"Again! Saph, what have we told you?!" Marina shouted.

I smiled guiltily. "Well, actually, I have a good reason this time!"

"It had better be good!" Milley said pushing me into a wall. She smiled.

"Well, basically, I woke up real late! Then Espio suddenly rang me and we were talking…"

Milley interrupted me briefly. "Planning tonight."

I glared at her. "No we were not planning tonight! I am not that type of girl, you know that!" Milley laughed at me. "Anyway, I then looked at the time and it was time to come here."

"That is so not a good reason!" Marina said. "Milley we are feeding her now!"

Milley nodded in agreement. "We sure are!" Milley grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the kitchen. She then sat me down on a chair. "Marina, hold her there!" Marina did as she was told. Milley then ran off somewhere. I looked at Marina confused, she just shrugged. Milley suddenly burst through the door once more with rope in her hands.

I frowned. "You can't be serious Milley." I said as I tried to get up, but I ended up just being pushed back down onto the chair.

"Oh, I am dead serious!" She exclaimed as she tried the rope around both me and the back of the chair. Once she was done, she tied a tight knot to make sure I couldn't move. "Now to get you some food!" She walked into the kitchen.

Marina was laughing at me. "This isn't funny Marina!" I said as I tried to break free. I found the rope just rubbing against my fur. "Ow, that hurts!" Damn Milley for putting it so tight.

"You are having cheerios if you like it or not okay Fire?" I heard Milley call in from the kitchen.

"Okay." I rolled my eyes. Marina was still laughing at me. "Marina, I promise you, as soon as I have finished eating, I will capture you, and tie you to this chair!"

"No you won't!" Milley called in again. "She is my wife, so you are not allowed."

I smiled. Perfect time to tease my brother, if only he was here! "Well Tails would be disappointed that Marina was taken!"

Marina stopped laughing. "So he does like me?"

"Duh!" Milley shouted. "And so does Manic come to think of it!"

"Manic likes me?" Marina asked sounding shocked.

"Yes, he wants you!" I started to tease.

"In bed…" Milley joked.

"Milley!" Marina shouted as red flooded into her cheeks.

I also blushed, which was a big mistake. "Look, look!" Milley said pointing at me as she brought in the bowl of cheerios. "Fire is blushing too! You must like Manic! Wait...naughty, naughty Fire! You already have a boyfriend! You shouldn't be cheating on him just yet! Not until you-"

"Okay Milley! That's enough!" I interrupted blushing even more. I thought about Espio, about my missions, I suddenly felt sad once more.

I didn't even notice that I looked upset, until Marina said to me. "What is it Saph?"

This came as a shock to me. "Huh? Oh right, it's nothing." I smiled, I will have to forget about Espio at the moment, just to be with my friends, just to make them happy.

"Good, now eat your cereal." Milley demanded holding the spoon in front of me. I opened my mouth to speak but instead I found a spoonful of cheerios being shoved in my mouth. I ate them quickly.

Soon after I had finished eating Milley freed me from the chair. Marina was sat down in another chair. I smiled. I quickly snatched the rope away from Milley and started to wrap it around Marina. "Hey! What are you doing?!" She squealed.

I smiled. "I promised I would get you." She started to pull the rope off of her. "No! I wont let you go!" I sat her down again. "Milley please hold her?" I asked politely.

Milley did as I asked and smiled at Marina. Marina glared at her. "Sorry hun, a promise is a promise." Milley said. I smiled and started to tie the rope around Marina. I finally tied a bow on the front and Milley let go and laughed.

"You two are mean!" Marina exclaimed. I nodded in agreement. I then heard my mobile going off.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my mobile. I read the caller ID. It was G.U.N.. 'Why are they calling now?' I wondered. "Excuse me girls. Marina you may be freed now." I smiled as I walked out of the room.

I opened my mobile and put it to my ear. "Hello?" I asked as if pretending I didn't know who it was.

"Sapphire, we have found out some new information on two of your missions, it could help." Well at least they get strait to the point.

But, I am with my friends, I can't leave them, not now. "Can't this wait?" I asked hopefully.

"No, it is about the princess and the immortal." I sighed.

"Okay, what is it?"

"Are you alone?"

"Yes, but it's not like anyone would hear you anyway! I am on the phone! And another thing, why would I let anyone listen to this conversation!"

The person on the other end of the phone ignored my shouting. "The princess and Immortal are really close friends."

"And, how could this help me?" Before they could answer me I hung up the phone. They shouldn't be bothering me on my days off. I walked back into the other room. I saw Milley, she was sat on Marina. "Er...Okay, what happened here?"

"I was bored." Milley answered smiling. "And Marina wanted to be sat on!"

Marina was trying to get up. "Okay can I get up now?" She asked.

"Nope, not until you promise me…" She started to whisper in Marina's ear. I was unable to hear what she was saying.

Once she had stopped whispering Marina nodded and Milley got off of her. They both directed their glances at me. Oh no.


	11. Secrets

Milley and Marina took a step towards me. I smiled uncertainly and stepped back myself. "You are going to attack me aren't you?" I asked nervously.

They both nodded. "Yep!" Milley answered. I quickly ran through the door. Milley followed me, as did Marina.

I lead them up the stairs and through out most of the house. I finally had an idea. I jumped up and started to spin my tails round so that I could fly. "Now you guys will never get me!" I exclaimed.

Milley suddenly jumped up and started to fly herself. I gasped and stopped flying causing me to fall. I landed on the floor. Milley looked down at me. "What?" She suddenly realised what was wrong. Marina had stopped chasing after me and was also looking at Milley.

"Y-you can….fly?" I asked shocked.

She landed next to me. "No, of corse not...where did you get that idea from?" She helped me up.

"Milley, since when have you been able to fly?" Marina asked.

"Over 100 years ago." She sounded abit serious, but yet she was joking at the same time.

"You weren't even born then." I laughed. "I mean you are only 16."

"That is very true. But I am special." Milley answered. She helped me up.

I smiled. "So you have known how to fly since you were a baby?" Marina asked.

Milley nodded. "Of corse!"

"Aw! Now this is unfair!" Marina exclaimed. Milley and I looked at her. "Now I am the only one that can't fly!"

Milley smiled. "Sorry Marina!"

"Why didn't you tell us that you could fly Milley?" I asked. "I mean it isn't like we would mind."

"Ah, but Sapphire, everyone has their secrets." Milley said. I thought about it. It was true, everyone has their own secret which they could tell no one. Even me.

I nodded in agreement. "I wonder what G.U.N. would do if they knew?" I accidentally said out loud.

Milley glared at me. "Never say that in this house Sapphire." She sounded really serious. "They are NOT welcome here!"

I wonder what Milley would do if she found out I worked for G.U.N.? She would most probably kill me without thinking. No human can actually, physically fly. So why can she? 'Everyone has their secrets…' It makes no sense, Milley isn't even the type of person who would say that. 'Over 100 years ago.' Why did she sound abit serious when she said that, what could she mean if she was serious? I am sure she was just joking. She must have been. I am just thinking about this too much. I realised that Milley was still glaring at me and that no one had said anything for a while. "I am sorry Milley."

She smiled. "That's okay." She said. "Just don't ever say their name again."

"Why can't I though?" I asked. "Why are you afraid of them?"

She shook her head. "Fire, some things are better left unsaid."

I sighed. "Milley, please answer." I pleaded. "We are friends. All of us are."

Marina looked at Milley. Milley seemed like she was about to say, but couldn't. "I-I can't say. Sorry girls."

I smiled. I shouldn't be asking. That was so wrong of me. "Sorry. You are right. Some things, are, better left unsaid." She smiled at me. "Perhaps I should go home now. I haven't done any of my homework for like two days."

Milley shook her head at me. "You worry too much Fire. I mean looked at me. I haven't done my homework for like, two years!"

Marina and I laughed. "Besides, I also have to looked after my brother." I had an idea. "Would you like to come with me? Maybe we could have some fun at my house?"

"Yeah sure thing!" Marina said. "I haven't been over to your house in ages!"

"Are you sure you don't just want to see Tails?" Milley teased.

"No! you know who I like! It's not my fault he likes me." Marina said quickly.

"Yes it is. You tease him too much." Milley continued to tease.

"Come on girls lets go, and Marina I promise you my brother won't annoy you as much as he annoys me." I said as I started to walk out of the room.

Marina smiled. "Okay, good."

Milley flew over me. "I lead the way out of my house thank-you." She landed in front of me and started to walk down the stairs. I smiled.

Milley opened the front door. She stopped. "What's up Milley?" Marina asked pushing past me.

"Hey Silver!" I heard Milley say. "What are you doing here?" I smiled and looked at silver who was slightly blushing.

"Er...hi Milley, Marina, Sapphire." Silver said.

"Hi Silver!" I waved. Even though I was right next to him.

"Hey Silver." Marina said plainly.

"So why are you here Silver? Is something wrong?" Milley asked.

Silver looked to me then to Marina. "Er...Milley, can I talk to you privately a second?" Milley looked abit worried, but she nodded anyway.

He pulled Milley outside and just in front of her gate. He then started to talk to her. He looked really nervous, he kept fiddling the whole time. I smiled. "Hey Saph? Do you know what he wants?" Marina asked.

"I sure do." I replied. She looked at me strangely. "You will see soon." We both looked back to them. Milley spoke and we watched a smile spread across Silvers face. He then dismissed himself and waved a quick 'goodbye' to us all.

Milley skipped back to us smiling. "Eek!" She shrieked. "Guess who just got asked out by Silver!"

"You? By any chance?" I asked.

"Aww, how did you know?" She asked.

"But Milley, what about Knuckles?" Marina asked. "I thought you were going out with him."

"No that was a date, he didn't ask me out again." Milley answered. "In fact, we haven't even spoken since then."

I guess that is true. But even so, it still sounds unfair on Knuckles. Everyone knows he likes Milley… except Milley. "Well, we both wish you luck in your future love life." I smiled.

"Yay! Thank-you!" She exclaimed. "Now onward to your house!" She pointed in the completely opposite direction to where my house was.

"Milley, my house is that way." I said pointing the correct way.

"I knew that!" She said. "I was just testing you!"

As soon as we arrived at my house I remembered that all my papers from G.U.N. were still spread out on the floor of my room. "Fire, can we go in your room for abit?" Milley asked already starting to climb the stairs.

"Er...Yeah, sure." I panicked. "Only can I tidy my room up abit before you go in please?"

"Why? My room is messier than yours, surely!" Milley said.

"Please Milley one second." I flew up the stairs as quickly as I could.

"No! I want to go in your room first." She said messing around. She flew up the stairs and managed to get in front of me. "Ha, I am winning."

Trust Milley to see this as a race. "Please Milley." She landed in front of my door and opened it. "Hey!"

She walked into my room and didn't seem to notice the papers on the floor. I walked in after her and picked up my papers and shoved them in my bag. "Your room isn't messy. You lied to me! How dare you!"

"She lied to us." Marina said finally catching up with us. "Hey what are you putting in that bag?"

"Er...nothing!" I answered. I threw the bag into the back of my wardrobe.

"Hey Fire." I looked to Milley. She was looking at my laptop. "You left your MSN on again."

"Damn it!" I said. I walked over to her. "Has anyone been talking to me?"

"Yeah, a few people." She looked at their names. "Espio was talking to you. So was Sonic and some chick called Rouge."

"Who is Rouge?" Marina asked. "I have never heard of her."

"You wouldn't know her." I said quickly.

"Lets see what Sonic had to say. You had better not be cheating on Espio." She clicked on the conversation Sonic had started.

Marina looked at the screen. "'We need to talk.' Wow, he is chatty!"


	12. MSN

I looked at the computer screen myself. Sonic wasn't online. "I wonder what he wants?"

"Hey, isn't 'we need to talk' normally like a break up line?" Marina asked. "You know they always use it in films and stuff...mainly American things mind."

"Oh! So you were cheating on Espio!" Milley shouted.

"Will you ever stop?" I asked. "First you wouldn't stop teasing me about what me and Espio should do. Now you are talking about me cheating on him."

"Hey, it is what I'm like!" She smiled. I smiled too.

"What did Rouge have to say?" I asked stupidly.

Milley clicked on Rouge's conversation. "'Hey there Fire!'" Milley read. "Oh! I like this person! She calls you Fire!"

Marina sighed. "I don't like her in that case. What else did she say?" She asked pulling the screen her way.

"Hey! No! I am reading!" Milley snatched the lap top back and poked her tongue out at Marina. I laughed. "Now where was I...Ah right. 'Have you found out the red echidnas name yet? I want to know. Please tell me.'"

I froze. "Kn-Knuckles, h-he is…" I stopped talking.

"Whats wrong Saph?" Marina asked. She was staring at me with a little concern.

I shook my head. "I-It's nothing...as I said before." I smiled. Marina frowned, but she could tell I wasn't going to say.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Is she talking about Knuckles!" Milley said still staring at the computer screen. "She is! Tell her to stay away from him!"

"But Milley, you are going out with Silver." Marina protested.

"Yeah well…still!" She started to type on the conversation. I looked at the screen. 'Milley– Stay away from him!' She sent it.

"Milley! She is online!" I shouted looking at her status.

"Oh well." Milley shrugged. Rouge soon replied. 'Who is Milley?' "Oh! I can see you have talked about me a lot huh?" She started to type again. 'I am one of Sapphire's friends from school.'

'Why are you on her account?'

'Oh I am over her house. She is here, she says 'hi.''

'Ah, right. So I take it you know the red echidna? You seem protective over him. Is he going out with you or something?'

'No, unfortunately'

'Then, I know this is rude of me to ask...but...do you mind if I asked him out? You know if I got to know him?'

"Okay I don't like this chick anymore! How dare she ask me that!" Milley shouted.

"Rouge has had a crush on Knuckles since she had to-" I gulped. "Since she met him really."

"Yet she doesn't know his name." Marina commented.

"I know, It's complicated I guess." I said.

"Maybe I should tell her his name." Milley considered. "I mean, after all, I am already taken."

Marina and I smiled. "That is nice of you Milley."

"I know, I know. I am lovely aren't I?" She typed his name and agreed that it would be possible for Rouge to date him. She then sent it to Rouge.

Oh no. What if Rouge tells G.U.N. his name? I never even thought of that. I gulped.

'Thank-you Milley.' Rouge typed. 'We should meet up one day. You sound like a really nice girl.'

"Oh yeah! Bonus! I am a 'nice girl.'" Milley said boldly.

I smiled. "I think you would like Rouge." I started to mutter. "Apart from the fact she works for G.U.N."

"Hey Saph, why didn't you tell Rouge his name?" Marina asked suddenly.

"Well, to be honest I didn't really know who she was talking about." I said honestly.

"How can you not know?" Milley asked. "She knew you had met him."

"As I said, it is complicated." I replied.

Rouge started typing again. 'How did you know Knuckles' name?'

'Oh, I go to his school. So does Sapphire. But she didn't know who you were talking about, so now me and Marina are confused.'

"Hey! Why mention my name!" Marina asked.

"Because you have to be included too!" Milley said.

'Fire, I thought you were doing that mission yesterday though, surely you must have bumped into him then?'

I smacked my head. I then typed my part. 'The girls don't know.' I made it simple so that they wouldn't think anything of it.

'Oh sorry! Yeah I have to go now, bye girls!' She signed off.

"What don't we know?" Milley was first to ask.

I smiled. "Some secrets are better left unsaid."

"What! You said you didn't have any secrets!" Marina argued.

"And that was what I said! You can't use it against me! The creator!" Milley closed down the conversation with Rouge. This uncovered Espio's conversation. "Oh yeah! Espio is talking to you too!" Milley read the conversation out loud. "'Hey Sapphire. I hope you are available Sunday, because I am taking you out to dinner.' Wow, he gets strait to the point doesn't he? 'Anyway, maybe you could come over my house afterwards. It is really up to you I guess.' Ooo!"

"Milley, Don't!" I said quickly.

"Aww okay! 'I am guessing you have either left your MSN on again or you are angry at me. I am hoping for the first one.'" Milley finished reading. "And he is still online." She said excitedly.

'Hey Espio! Milley here! Fire is available tomorrow. But you have to promise me something, okay?' Milley typed.

Espio replied strait away. 'Hey Milley, and now I am guessing what you are going to say, so I am going to answer you now. I will be gentle.'

I blushed. "He knows you too well Milley." Marina said.

"Humph! That's what he thinks!" She started typing again. 'Ew, that is disgusting! I didn't want you to promise me that, you can do as much as you want with her in that department.' This was so not helping. I could feel my cheeks going more red. Marina laughed at the expression on my face. Milley continued to type. 'I wanted you to promise that you would take care of her! God! I am not that bad!'

"Yes you are." Marina and I protested. Milley pushed send.

"Oh my God." I said with my hands over my face. Milley smiled at me.

Espio replied. 'I will do that too. ;P'

"Why do I even know such sick minded people!" I exclaimed.

"Don't act all innocent Fire." Milley started. "We all know what you are truly like, you always pretend to be freaked out about stuff like that, when really you love it."

"Hell no! Yuck, it is horrible." I shouted poking my tongue out.

"I don't understand why you make such a big deal out of it." Marina said.

"Neither do I." I admitted. "I just can't think about it...I can't, so please don't make me."

"Fine! But I bet you are happy Espio doesn't wear clothes." I blushed. Marina laughed at me again. Milley then turned on Marina. "And I bet you are happy about Shadow not wearing any clothes too!"

This time Marina blushed and I laughed at her. "How about Silver? Are you happy he doesn't wear clothes Milley?" Marina asked.

"Duh!" She exclaimed.

"Well, at least you are honest." I shrugged. I looked at the computer screen, Espio had replied again. 'Milley, can I talk to Saph instead now?'

Milley gasped and started typing once more. 'Oh so you don't want to talk to me! Fine then! And one other thing…' She sent that message then added more. 'HER NAME IS FIRE!'

"Er, okay Milley, can I talk to him now?" I started to reach out for the laptop.

"No! Never!" She said even though she then passed it to me. I smiled.

'Hey Espio, How are you doing?'

'Oh at last! Hey Sapphire! I am good thanks, how about you?' He asked.

"So what shall we do once she has finished talking to her boyfriend?" Milley asked Marina. Marina just shrugged. "Aww come on, I am bored!"

I laughed at the both of them. 'I am fine too thanks, only I think I had better go, Milley is bored.'

'Hmm, I can understand why you would want to leave. I will see you tomorrow anyway! Bye Sapphire! Xxx.'

'Bye, xxx.' I signed off. "So, what do you want to do?"


	13. Tails

I placed my laptop on the desk behind me. "What do I want to do? What do I want to do?" Milley asked herself. "Oh! I know! I want to tease your brother!" Milley got up and ran out of my room.

"How nice of her." Marina said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I can see why Tails doesn't like her much." I smiled. "Let's help Milley tease him."

Marina nodded. "Sure thing."

We ran down stairs after Milley. I then spotted her in the room with Tails. She was flicking his ear, as per usual. "Okay Milley, you can stop now." Tails complained trying to hit her hand away.

"Aww, but Tails, this is fun! Plus your ears are so flickable!" Milley said still flicking his ear.

"not for me it isn't." He stood up and spotted Marina. "Hi Marina." he said quietly.

"Hey, where was my hello!?" Milley exclaimed.

"Yeah and mine!" I joined in.

Marina answered Tails. "Hey there. How have you been doing in school?"

"Quite good." He was completely ignoring me and Milley. "How about you?"

"Yeah, one thing to remember, high school sucks." Marina answered. I smiled at her.

"So then Tails, I can see you still have a crush on Marina." Milley teased. Tails blushed. "How long has it been now? A year? Two?"

"I don't have a crush on Marina!" He argued.

"Sure you don't" Milley said sarcastically.

Marina just stood there blushing and her arms folded. She obviously didn't want to believe that Tails liked her.

Tails looked at Marina then at Milley. "I honestly don't have a crush on her."

"Tails there is no use hiding it. You do." I said smiling.

"No I don't! Why are you so sure I do?" He shouted at me.

"Simple, while you were asleep a few months ago, I went into your room-" He interrupted me.

"Why were you in my room! I told you not to go in there!" He shouted.

"Let me finish!" I continued. "I went into your room because I could hear you talking, and because I thought you were talking to someone. So I went in to see who it was you were talking to...guessing it was Cosmo or Cream. When I walked in, I realised you were just talking in your sleep. I was about to leave when, I heard you say Marinas name and well you were…er...yeah, that is pretty much it."

Tails blushed instantly. "I-er-I…" He was speechless.

Milley burst out laughing. "That is so cute!"

I smiled. "That is what I thought."

"Wait, Fire, you said he was doing something else...what else was he doing?" Milley asked.

I looked at Tails. I think he knew what he was doing. "I don't think I should say. That would be unfair on Tails." I said.

"S-so, that is how you found out?" He asked, finally accepting that we knew.

"No, not exactly. You made it obvious before that, but that just confirmed it." I hoped he wouldn't destroy me.

He nodded. "Okay." He sounded unsure.

"So, what is going to happen now?" Milley asked.

"Well I guess...you can either work it out between you." I offered. Marina just looked away. "Or Tails, you would have to try and move on. Only, try not to get stuck in yet another love triangle, they are annoying as hell!"

"Oh! Who was he in a love triangle with!?" Milley asked. I stared at her. "Cosmo is one, and er...Cream?" I nodded.

"Maybe I should move on." Tails considered. "But, who?"

"You will find out soon little bro." I said.

"So who do you like Marina?" He asked suddenly.

Marina blushed. "Why should I tell you that?" She seemed a little shocked.

"She likes Shadzy." Milley said plainly.

"Milley!" Marina shouted.

"Who is Shadzy?" Tails asked.

"Oh, new kid in our year. They met on holiday, his actual name is Shadow." I answered.

"Oh, How about you Milley?" He asked.

"You have a lot of questions huh?" Milley said. He smiled and nodded. "Well, I am going out with Silver if that helps?"

"So you like Silver?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, sure thing. Why not?" Milley shrugged.

"She also likes Knuckles, she is in a love triangle I think." I confessed for her. She glared at me.

"Knuckles, Knuckles...I know him...er…" Tails thought out loud. "He is Espio's friends right? And he has an obsession on this emerald thing."

I stared at Tails. How does he know that? "Yeah, that's him." I nodded.

"What emerald thing?" Milley asked.

"He has never mentioned an emerald to any of us." Marina added.

"I guess he doesn't really have to tell us anything though." I admitted. "Guys, I think you had better go home, it is getting late."

"Aww, can't we stay?" Marina begged.

"No, sorry. I have stuff to do tonight." I smiled.

"What are we doing tonight?" Tails asked.

"I am doing something tonight. You know normal stuff." I shrugged.

"Okay then Sapphire." Marina smiled and headed towards the front door.

"I am not leaving!" Milley said as she got up and walked to the hall.

"I wish you guys could stay, but I do have stuff to do." I hugged them both and waved bye to them. I closed the door and turned around. Tails was staring at me.

"You can't keep lying to them Sapphire, you will have to tell them at one point." He said to me.

"I know, but Milley is terrified of G.U.N. If I told her I worked for them, things just wouldn't be the same." I tell Tails all my secrets, he pretty much knows everything about me. I sank down to the floor as I thought about Espio once more. "I have to kill Espio and Shadow." I said to him quietly.

"What? Why?" He knelt down next to me.

"It's my mission. Well two different ones." I started to cry. "I don't want to kill him, or Shadow! And I don't want to capture Knuckles either! They are all my friends and I don't know what to do."

"You will know what to do soon. I am sure you will." He whispered to me. I smiled and hugged him.

"I only wish I knew what to do now." I whispered back. I let go of him.

"I know this is bad timing, but Sonic rang, he wanted to talk to you." Tails remembered.

"Joy, I guess I had better ring him back though." I wiped my eyes and stood up.

I dialled his number as I read it from the address book. I slumped down on to my bed and waited for him to pick up the phone. His mother answered. "Hello?" She said.

"Hi, is Sonic there please? Tell him it's Sapphire." I hate talking over phones, I always blush even if I have nothing to blush about! Plus I sound like an idiot over them. "Yes sure….SONIC!" She called. I held the phone away from my ear. Ow…

I heard Sonic running down the stairs. He grabbed the phone and ran back upstairs, slamming a few doors behind him. "Hi Sapphire!" He said breathlessly.

"Hey, you wanted to speak to me?" I asked.

"Yeah, I didn't know who to speak to about this, you were the first person I thought of because you are a nice girl and I have known you for years." He said.

"What is it Sonic?" I asked.

"Right, you know how, I used to like you…" He waited for me to answer.

Why did he have to bring this up again? "Yeah…"

"Well the good thing for you is, I don't anymore. But, it is who I like now."

I sighed. "Why aren't you able to tell anyone else who you fancy? Not that I mind you telling me but– oh I will shut it now, who is it?"

He sighed. "I like this person quite a lot. More than I liked you, no offence." He could tell I was getting impatient. "It's Shadow." My mouth dropped open.


	14. Love Is A Powerful Thing

"Y-you have a crush on...Shadow!" I exclaimed.

"Y-yes." Sonic said nervously. "I love him Sapphire, you have to help me. I don't know what to do. I know I can't tell him because, he is most likely to be strait. But, I want to tell him. When I am around him, I feel so warm and I get nervous and sweaty. I turn into jelly around him."

"Y-you like Shadow?" I repeated. "S-sorry, I am just abit stunned. So you like boys now? I don't see anything wrong with it at all! I am just asking."

He sighed. "Yes, I like males now." Oh God, what can I tell him? I don't know what to say. I still don't quite believe that he is gay! I have known him most of my life and he has always liked girls! "Sapphire?"

"Sorry, I was thinking." God I use that excuse a lot. "I don't know what you can do Sonic, I am sorry. Since when have you liked him?"

"Since I realised you and I couldn't be together."

I smiled. "Er, okay. Sonic, I wouldn't tell him, the amount of embarrassment you could cause by telling him."

"Sapphire, I really don't care about the embarrassment, I love Shadow." He paused. Hearing him say that he loved Shadow sounded, weird. "I shouldn't have told you, should I?"

"No, I don't mind that you told me. I am just taking a while to think about this." I said. I then started to laugh.

"Sapphire? Why are you laughing?" He asked.

"I am sorry, I am thinking of Amy's reaction when she finds out. If you are going to tell her please take me with you!" I laughed.

Sonic chuckled on the other end of the phone. "Sure thing Sapphire. You are taking this in quite well."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I thought you would be freaked out by the fact I am gay." He said truthfully.

"I wouldn't be freaked out by it. You can like who ever you want, other people can't decide for you." I smiled. "It is just a fact of life."

"Can you promise me something Sapphire?" he asked

"Yeah sure, what is it?"

"You won't tell anyone, I don't think everyone will see it the way you do. Most people will just make fun of me because of it."

"Don't worry Sonic. Your secret is safe with me."

"Thank-you. Only I think I will tell Shadow."

"But Sonic, what if-"

"What if it works out Sapphire?"

"But what if it doesn't? Everyone in the school would find out!"

"I think it is a risk I am willing to take."

"But– I don't want you to be hurt, we have been friends since primary school."

"Would you still talk to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"If people found out around the school, they would avoid me. Would you still talk to me?"

"Yes, of corse. I don't care what people say. Besides, if people stay away from you just because you are gay, then that is just stupid, isn't it?"

"I suppose, as long as I still have some friends in the school, I will be happy."

I smiled. "I had better go now Sonic, see you Monday?"

"Yeah, see you then." I hung up the phone. "Oh my God he is gay!" I shouted to myself. I had to say it out loud just to get it out of my system. I wasn't lying when I said to him I didn't care that he was gay. It was just strange.

Tails knocked on my door and walked in. "Who is gay?" He asked.

"Don't worry about it, Tails. And another thing, why were you listening to my conversation?" I asked.

"It was hard to ignore when you shouted 'Oh my God he is gay!'" He said.

I smiled. "That is true, I am going to figure out what I am wearing for tomorrow so shoo." I pushed him out of my room.

"Have fun." He called up to me as he walked downstairs to the kitchen.

I looked into my wardrobe and my bag full of papers for G.U.N. fell to the floor, spilling all my research every where. I sighed and picked it up quickly. I still have to type everything about Knuckles. I will do that tomorrow though I guess.

I picked out my white dress, which I normally don't really wear. I then chose some shoes to go with it. As soon as I was done I went to bed.

My alarm went of waking me up. I turned it off and turned around in the bed. I opened my eyes and saw Espio. "ESPIO!" I fell out of bed. He laughed at me.

"Hi there Sapphire." He went round to the other side of the bed where I had fallen down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am fine." I said rubbing the back of my head. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long. Your brother let me in. He said you were still asleep." Espio said smiling.

"Okay then, as long as you haven't been waiting long." I stretched and yawned. "Where are you going to be taking me?"

"You will see." He held out his hand to help me up. I smiled at him and held on to it. He pulled me up quickly. "you should really think about having a bed against the wall."

"Hmm, maybe I should. Oh well." I smiled. "And by the way, yours and Milley's conversation over MSN was embarrassing!"

"Well, you would find it embarrassing wouldn't you." He said smiling.

"That may be so...but couldn't you both have some dignity!" I exclaimed.

He laughed at me. "So, are you wearing that dress?" He pointed to my wardrobe where I had hung the dress. I nodded. "Nice. White is my favourite colour."

"That can't be right." I walked over to the dress and picked it up. " White isn't really a colour." He rolled his eyes. "It's not though!"

"Yeah, I know." He hugged me and then kissed me.

I heard my door get flung open. "Sapphire and Espio, Sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Tails shouted, he then ran down the stairs.

I blushed as we stopped kissing. I decided to look down so he couldn't see me blushing. "Please ignore him…" I said quietly.

"Okay, I will...now are you going to get dressed? Or do I have to take you out in your nightdress?" He asked sarcastically.

"Well, I will get dressed as long as you leave for a little bit please?" I asked politely as I spread my dress on my bed.

"Do I really have to go?" He smiled.

"Yes, I don't want you watching me get changed!" I said.

"Okay, very well." He shrugged. "I will go and chat with your brother for abit." I watched him leave the room slowly. He closed the door firmly behind him. I let out a sigh.

I am in love with him. I can't deny that. I slumped down on to my bed and covered my face. Why did I even decide to work for G.U.N., it just doesn't make sense now. I closed my eyes. I felt so stressed out. I am going on a date with my enemy! If that's not crazy, then I don't know what is. I suddenly felt stripped of energy, I just couldn't move. I was incredibly tired. I curled up next to my dress and I could slowly feel myself drifting off to sleep.

"Sapphire...Sapphire, wake up." I heard. I opened my eyes. It was Espio. "Don't fall out of bed again."

I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "What do you mean? Wait, how long was I asleep! I had better get ready I don't want to waste your time!" I stood up quickly.

"Don't worry, you weren't asleep long. Do you just want to stay in? You seem pretty tired." Espio smiled at me.

I smiled back. "No, I would rather go out with you. I promise I will get dressed this time." He hurried out of my room once more. I pulled on my dress and brushed my tangled hair. It was slightly cold in my room today. I shivered. My room was always the coldest in the house.

I wrapped my tails around me to keep me warm. I placed my hairbrush back on the table and shivered again. I held on to myself to try and make myself warmer.

"Cold?" Espio appeared behind me.

I screamed a little. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long." He put his arms around my waist and pulled me back into him. I felt him move my hair to the side and I them felt his lips on the back of my neck.


	15. Sonic's problem

I giggled slightly as he licked the back of my neck. He then moved away. I could see his cheeks were more pink than their usual colour. I smiled at him as I brushed my hair back over my shoulders.

"Er, we should go." He said quickly. "We don't want to be late!" He grabbed my arm and started to pull me out of the room.

"But Espio, where are you even taking me?" I asked. "You still haven't told me."

"It's no where really special." He admitted. "It's just at my house really."

I thought about this for a while as he dragged me down the stairs. "Wait, if it is at your house, how can we be late?"

"We can't really, but I want you to hurry up all the same." He turned around and smiled at me as we reached the door.

"Fine with me." I smiled back at him. "What time is it exactly?"

"Oh, er it's eleven O'clock. And I can tell you still can't read analogue." He joked.

"I can't be bothered learning I suppose." I pushed my way past him to get to the front door. "See you later Tai-" I stopped and listened. I could hear someone sobbing. I opened the front door and saw Sonic sat on the step. "Sonic?" His ear flicked back at his name and he looked up at me. He was crying.

"Sonic what happened?" Espio asked.

Sonic simply sighed as Espio and I sat either side of him. He wiped his tears then looked at me. "I made a massive mistake." He sobbed. I knew immediately what he meant.

"Sonic, why don't you come inside?" I asked almost forgetting about Espio. Sonic nodded. I stood up then helped Sonic up.

"Should I leave?" Espio asked. "I don't want to get in the way."

"No, please stay. I will come with you soon, but-" He interrupted me

"Don't worry, Sonic needs you. It is honestly fine with me. I will go home. Ring me when you are going to come over okay?" He asked as he started to leave.

"Okay, thanks Espio." He winked at me and left.

I turned back to Sonic. "What happened?"

"I am sorry." He said simply.

"What for?" I looked at him curiously . I could see more tears in his eyes.

"I interrupted your plans. I shouldn't be so selfish! You should have gone with Espio and left me here. It's not like anyone would care if I just rotted away."

"I would care Sonic. What happened though? Why are you so upset?"

"It's abit of a long story."

"Well, I have time."

"But, what about Es-"

"Sonic I have time. Please tell me. Otherwise I will be worrying about you."

"I bumped into Shadow."

"And what happened?"

"Well, I said I wanted to tell him something. He followed me, I couldn't tell him. We just started a conversation about a random thing…"

Sonic paused. I was abit surprised by the fact Shadow would even talk to someone if they just randomly bumped into each other. "What happened then?" I asked.

"I was watching him talk. I was watching his lips moving and I-I don't know what came over me. I don't know why I did it, but I-" He paused for a second to take in a deep breathe. "I kissed him."

I froze. "Y-you kissed him? What did he do?"

Sonic smiled a little. "The weird thing is, for a second, he actually did...kiss back. I felt so happy and I felt like he truly cared about me for that second, it ended soon enough."

"What did he do?" I was trying really hard to stay calm. I couldn't believe any of this! Shadow actually kissed him back? And he actually talked to someone!

"He pushed me away from him and punched me. He called such awful things. I know that if people in school found out they would do the same...but coming from him, it's different. It really hurts Fire, you don't know how much it hurt." He started to cry uncontrollably again.

I wrapped my arms around him. "Please don't cry Sonic." I hugged him tighter. "You shouldn't listen to him. He is an idiot anyway, no matter how cool his shoes are." I know it sounded stupid to say that, but I was trying to make him laugh. Or at least cheer him up abit.

Sonic took a deep breathe again. "But– what if, he tells the kids in school?"

"I thought you didn't care what they said?"

"But Shadow would most probably make it sound worse! I don't want to go through that! And in music I am sat next to him! That will be so awkward!" He started breathing really quickly. As if he couldn't breathe properly.

"Sonic! Stop it! You are going to make yourself sick!" I paused. "Don't get yourself so wound up about him! Look what he is doing to you." Sonic started to rock back and forth, staring strait ahead. "Sonic!" He looked at me.

"I have been such an idiot! Why did I think I even had a chance with him! Why?"

"Sonic, please. Look at yourself. You are getting in such a state over him. He isn't good enough for you anyway."

"It doesn't feel like that now though. It feels like, he is the only one for me. No one else, just him." He wiped his eyes again. "I am sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You shouldn't be apologising to anyone. If anyone has to say 'sorry' it isn't you, it's Shadow! Shadow should apologise for not thinking properly!"

"That doesn't make any sense though. Why should he apologise for something I did."

"He is the one that punched you! Sure you kissed him, but he should have understood, not go psycho on you. But then again, what can you expect from the ultimate-ly stupid hedgehog." Wow that was close! Good save from me.

"Sapphire, you are really not good at cheering people up. You know that right."

I nodded. "Sorry. I wish I was good at that, but I am not. I am improving though!"

He smiled slightly. " I guess, if anyone can do anything about this it should be me."

"But what could you do about it?"

"I guess I could say sorry to Amy for a start. Then I will say sorry to Shadow, because I should have thought before I acted."

I sighed. "If you must."

"What do you think silver will say? You know, when he finds out?"

"I don't know, I don't really know him that well."

"I guess that is true. I don't think he will be my friend any more."

"You could be wrong though."

"But I could be right."

I suddenly remembered something. "By the way, can you tell Milley please?"

"Why?"

"Well, she cares about you, she wouldn't really mind it…"

"And?"

"Okay, and she always thought you were gay anyway." I smiled quickly. "Plus she always paired you with Shadow."

Sonic Laughed. "Now that actually cheered me up."

"Yeah, she also thinks that Shadow is gay mind, but she might just say that to bug Marina." My eyes widened when I realised what I said. "I did not just say that okay?"

"Marina likes Shadow! You should maybe tell My brother that."

"How come?"

"He likes Marina."

"What! He likes Marina! God, he should have told her that last year!"

"Let me guess...Marina liked Manic last year?"

"Heh heh, possibly."

Sonic smiled. "Weird how talking about others can make you happier."

I nodded in agreement. "It is also weird how it is funny when someone walks into a door."

"Did that happen to you?"

"Yes, and Milley would not stop laughing!"


	16. Espio

Sonic soon went home. He had decided that maybe he would be able to get his mind off Shadow for abit if he did. Before he left though he took me to Espio's house. We were there pretty soon, as you can guess. I mean he can run as fast as the speed of sound.

I knocked on Espio's door. He opened it. "Hey Sapphire, was Sonic okay afterwards?"

"Yeah, I think so….well I hope so at least." I answered. "Can I come in?"

"It depends." He said holding the door close to him.

"On what?"

"On if you will kiss me first." He smiled sneakily.

I shook my head. "If I have to." I gazed into his sandy coloured eyes. All I could remember was the ninja, the first time I had encountered him. He had looked strait into my eyes, like I was now with Espio. I looked away quickly in case he noticed.

I felt myself becoming breathless, my stomach was in knots. Why did he have to be the ninja? "Sapphire? What's wrong?" Espio asked making me face him again. "Kissing me isn't that bad is it?"

"N-no! Of corse not!" I panicked.

"So, what's wrong?" He repeated.

"Nothing." I forced myself to smile, I was starting to get good at the fake happy thing, I have to do it enough seeing as I work for G.U.N.

"Good, well you can come in...even though I didn't have my kiss." He opened the door so I could walk in. I stepped into the hallway.

"Hey, question...do you think ninja's exist?" I asked. I watched him. I could see that he was tensing a little.

"Well, I-I er guess so. Why such a random question?" He quickly asked to avoid talking about ninja's.

"Oh, well I heard that ninjas were spying on G.U.N." I paused. Great, now what am I supposed to say after that?

He looked at me strangely. "How would you know that? I thought they put those into like secret missions...Not that I really know! That's just what I thought. It's not like I work for G.U.N.! I hate G.U.N."

I felt my face fall, but I quickly made myself smile once more. "How comes?"

"Well...I got a hold of one of these like mission things from them, and it had all these pictures of...of one of your friends." I put my head to the side, as if to ask 'who?' He sighed. "They were pictures of Milley. I have had these files for a while."

"Wait! Wasn't that one of the files that, that...ninja...stole." I bit my tongue.

"How did you know-I mean, how would you know that?" He backed away from me slightly.

"I have a friend who works for G.U.N. She tells me all the inside stuff. She told me that these files, about some girl, went missing about...er...5 months ago I think."

"Who is it that works for G.U.N.?" He said angrily. "You have to tell me!" He pulled me closer to him, as if threatening me. "Sapphire...tell me." He whispered. I looked into his eyes, I could see the anger in them. It was so clear. I was scared of him like this. He could obviously see the fear in my eyes. He let me go. "I'm sorry." He apologised. I looked away from him. I had never seen him so worked up before. I wrapped my tails around myself and stared at the floor. I was secretly happy that he hadn't figured out I was working for G.U.N. I could only imagine what he would do if he found out.

I let out a sigh. "What did the files say?"

"Huh?"

"About Milley. What did they say?" He took my hand and guided me up the stairs. I knew what I was doing was wrong for my friends, because I would have to report everything I had found out, but for my job...it was the right thing to do.

"Stay here a second." He said to me. He went searching through his wardrobe. He pulled out a box, I could see that it was full of papers. I was guessing he had stolen them from G.U.N. He shifted through the papers slowly, reading little parts of them, searching for the one about Milley. "Here." He pulled out three sheets of paper and handed them to me.

There was a picture of Milley in the top right hand corner. It looked as if it was painted. I read the date printed at the bottom of the page. '18.06.1898.' I gasped. "That's impossible!" I then saw another picture further down the page. It was marked '02.08.2006' In this one, Milley wasn't alone. On her right, was Marina and on her left...was me. We were in the middle of a crowd, somewhere in town. "Where did G.U.N. get all these pictures from?" I asked as I turned over the page. There was a birth certificate. It was for Milley '08.09.478 BC' "How can she still be alive!"

"According to those files, she has been alive for thousands of years. I think they say she is immortal." Espio admitted.

"I-immortal?" It finally clicked. She was the one I was looking for. The immortal, oh God. Why is it always my friends having to have such massive secrets. Although, I am one of them with a big secret. I know though...it won't be secret much longer. "Have you managed to find any other papers on her?" I asked, looking at the box full of papers.

"No. I haven't. I am wishing this ninja, if he is the one finding them, would find something useful! Like find papers on who works for G.U.N." He reached out to take the papers away from me.

I held them closer to me. "Could I take these? Please? I think Milley should have these. They are about her." Espio nodded. I knew I wasn't going to give these to Milley. I knew I had to add them to all my research for G.U.N. At least...at least, I am doing my job. I sighed. I don't want to do this. Milley is one of my best friends, and Espio is my boyfriend. Fortunately, I can't make my move until I have the research on the princess. I will spend the time I have with them, well.

"Sapphire...you can't tell Milley I had those files. Okay?" He asked.

"How come?"

"She trusts you, she knows you. She doesn't know me. She doesn't trust me. She will think I am against her. She will think, I wrote those." I nodded. "Hey, by the way, what was wrong with Sonic?"

"I can't tell you Espio. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone." I smiled.

"Ah, darn. Oh well. Lets go on the computer?" He reached down behind his bed and pulled out his laptop.

"Okie doke! What should we do?" I sat on his bed and he sat next to me and opened his laptop.

"Hmm, go on msn?" He logged into his account.

"I guess we could. Who is on?" He scrolled down the list. Shadow was on, so was Knuckles. Shadow sent Espio a message immediately. "Don't tell Shadow I am here!" I said quickly.

"Why not?" Espio clicked on the conversation. 'You will never guess what Sonic did.' I read. I looked to the bottom of the screen, Shadow was typing more to his message.

"No! Espio we have to come off MSN NOW!" I demanded. I was too late. Shadow had sent the message. 'He tried to kiss me.' Espio's eyes widened.

"Sonic is GAY!" He gasped.

"Oh God...oh God, oh God, oh God." I held my head in my hands.

"He's online." Espio whispered. I looked up. He was right, Sonic just signed on.

"Instant message him please!" I begged. Espio clicked on Sonics name and passed the laptop to me. 'Sonic!' I typed quickly. 'It's Sapphire, Shadow has told Espio about what you did. He most probably told Knuckles too.'

"How come you knew this already?" Espio asked me.

"He told me, we used to be good friends in primary school." I admitted. "Now everyone is most probably going to make fun of him."

"Well I won't."

"You won't?"

"Of corse not. It's up to him who he likes."

"That's what I said!" Sonic replied. 'I know….I heard...but he hasn't told anyone else yet. I asked.'

'I am so sorry Sonic.' I typed. 'I wish I could help some how.'

'It's fine. They would find out eventually anyway.' He signed off.

"I think he is upset." Espio commented.

I nodded in agreement. "No offence to Shadow, but how could he be so thoughtless!"

"He doesn't think about what he is doing. He just says what he thinks."

"I guess that is true."


	17. Back to School

Back to school! God this has been a long weekend! So much has happened. I went over Milley's with Marina, Found out Sonic liked Shadow, Went over Espio's AND found out something about Milley. She is immortal. Why her! Why couldn't it be...some random guy I don't know. I really didn't expect it to be Milley. I mean sure, she is a 'human' that can fly, but I just never thought that Milley was immortal. I guess I had assumed it would be a boy.

I looked down the street. I could see the bus on its way. Espio was there, but he was being very quiet. I decided not to disturb him. Besides I had other things on my mind. I looked back at him. He was sat cross legged, on the concrete pavement. His eyes were closed. He had his hands in front of him, laying across his lap, he was holding them in the shape of a triangle. Next to him was his dusty old bag. It lay discarded on the floor.

"Espio." I said. He opened one eye and looked up at me. "The bus is coming."

He nodded. He closed his eye again and sighed. He then pushed himself up off the pavement and swung his bag on to his back. The bus came to a stop in front of us.

I jumped on the bus. Espio strolled along behind me. I jumped in the available seat next to Milley. "Hey Fire." She sounded glum.

"Hey, what's wrong Milley?" I asked curiously as I hugged her.

"Knuckles. He found out I was going out with Silver." She admitted. "He is now in a mood with me." I looked to the back where Espio and Knuckles were sat. They weren't talking. Espio was just sat there, looking down the bus and Knuckles had his arms folded across his chest. He was glaring out the window. He was frowning and he looked really angry.

"Yeah, he does look a little angry, but don't worry Milley, everything will turn out fine." I said positively. "Besides, he can't choose who you like, can he?"

"I guess not. But I still like him too, I am in the middle of a love triangle here!" She grabbed my arms firmly. "Help me!" She let go and leant back in her seat again. "I hate love triangles."

"Wait a minute, I thought you loved them! I mean remember when I was in a love triangle with Sonic and his brother, Manic? You laughed at me and said you loved them."

"Yeah but I wasn't in that love triangle!" She said. "I love them when they are with other people, hate them when it's with me."

"Typical Milley." She smiled at me.

"Hey, what's wrong with your boyfriend?" She asked glancing back at Espio. "He looks depressed, weren't you good enough for him?" I looked at her strangely at first, then I realised what she meant and I went red. "God, you took along time to catch on!"

"No that is not why!" Bad idea to say that.

Milley smiled. "OH!" She exclaimed.

Milley! You know what I meant!" I shouted. "I think he just has stuff on his mind is all."

"Fine, spoil my fun."

"I am relieved you didn't come up with a come back!"

"I did, I just didn't say it."

I glared at her. "I don't even want to know."

The bus stopped. Marina came on. "Hey girls!" She said. "What have you been talking about?"

I was about to answer when… "Oh, Sapphire was just telling me about what she got up to with Espio yesterday and she is way dirtier than I thought." I faced forward and hit my head on the seat in front of me. "Don't do that! You will lose your brain! I have already lost mine, we can't afford two missing brains! I can't afford that many missing posters!"

Marina laughed. "Milley, you actually can afford that many posters. And I know why." She tensed a little, I was guessing she thought I was on about her being immortal.

"Well of corse! She is rich!" Marina said.

I sighed. "Both of you have loads of money, why do you hang out with a poor person like me?"

"Oh, we just hang out with you to copy homework, that's all." Milley said pushing her legs against the seat in front of her. "I hate this bus! There is no leg room!"

"Oh! By the way!" I said suddenly. "Milley, Sonic wants to talk to you at break time!"

Milley smiled. "Oh! Is he finally going admit that he is gay? Or is he going to confess his love to me?"

"You will have to see."

"Aw! Tell mee!"

"No way. Oh and I think he will tell you too Marina, but I forced him to say he would tell Milley."

"Okay!" Marina looked to the front just as the bus stopped. Shadow's stop. He walked on the bus slowly. He had a black jacket on and was eating chewing gum. I suppose he was trying to look cool.

"Oh, naughty boy Shadzy! You are not allowed to wear that jacket! And you are not allowed chewing gum either!" Milley told him off.

He just glared at her. "Like I care about the rules of the school." He looked at Marina. "You!"

Marina looked up. "She has a name you know Shadow!" I said quickly.

"Shut up you bloody fox!" He said quickly. He looked back to Marina. "Meet me at lunchtime, by the entrance of the school." He demanded. "I have something to tell you." He then walked to the back of the bus with his hands in his pockets.

"Ooo, rebel!" Milley said sarcastically as he walked away. He just ignored her. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" He carried on walking and sat next to Espio and Knuckles, strangely enough, he looked the happiest of the group for once.

"So, Marina…" She looked at me as I said her name. "Are you going to meet him?"

"I don't think I really have a choice." Marina smiled. "He is so cool!"

I rolled my eyes. "And here I was thinking he was TRYING to act cool. Yet not succeeding." Marina gave me a death glare.

"You don't know him like I do though. I know him better than you do." She turned away from me.

"Yeah right, trust me when I say I know way more about him than you." I said.

"Oh yeah!" She turned back to me. "How? How could you know him better. He hates you! He hates you a lot!" I stayed silent. I didn't know how to answer to that. I just simply turned away. Sure he hates me, that's obvious...but I don't like to hear someone hates me. "I am sorry Saph…"

"Fire…" Milley corrected her.

"Sapphire, I just...I don't know."

"It's fine. I have something to think about anyway." I stood up and flew over Marina sitting on the seat opposite them. I figure if they didn't have to talk across me, it would be easier for them and this way I can have a moment to myself.

Marina and Milley had decided it was best to leave me be. I appreciate that. I guess, they know when people need to be alone and when they need a friend. A friend… Some friend I am.

I got off the bus. Marina and Milley followed me. "Are you okay then Saph?"

"Sure am." I winked at Marina.

"Marina, Forget about lunchtime." Shadow called. He grabbed her arm. "Come now." He dragged her away from us.

"Come on Milley, let's find Sonic. Maybe he will tell you now." I ran over to Silver and Sonic. "Hey Sonic, hey Silver!"

"Hey Silver." Milley hugged him. "So Sonic, what do you have to tell me?" Sonic smiled at me.

"You promised! You said you would tell Milley then Amy, you promised!" I begged.

"Okay. Seeing as Silver and you already know." He stood upright and grabbed Milley's hands. "Milley… I am…."

"You are what?" Milley said impatiently.

"I am gay." Sonic said. He seemed to be getting over it himself, which I was happy about. A smile spread across Milley's face.

"I knew it!!!" She exclaimed! "I was right! I told you Fire! WOOOO!" She skipped round in circles singing; "Sonic's gay, Sonics gay." Sonic just laughed at her.


	18. Secrets and Battles

"I was right! I was right!" Milley sang as she skipped down the hall to art.

"What were you right about?" Marina asked.

"You will find out soon, I mean it is art next." I said.

Marina stopped in the middle of the corridor. "Oh God. Please don't give me a repeat of last art lesson! PLEASE!"

"You will have to see….it took me all week to plan this moment...now I have the perfect idea." Milley smirked at Marina. Shadow was already at the art room. Marina ran over to him and hugged and kissed him. My mouth dropped open, but Shadow just simply hugged her back. I ran over to them. Milley was already there mind. "Ooo! Marina's got a boyfriend, Marina's got a boyfriend!" She sang. "This is the best day ever!"

"Congratulations to you both." I whispered.

"Thank-you Sapphire." Marina said.

"Yeah, thanks fox." Shadow said looking away from me. We walked into the art room. For once Milley started drawing strait away. Espio sat opposite me and Milley. He was sat next to Shadow. Silver was sitting next to Milley and Sonic was sat next to me. Marina was trying to find a small paint brush, she was in the art cupboard, which is never organised, so she was taking a while.

I tried several times to see what Milley was drawing, she just covered her work and told me it was a surprise. Although I did notice her using the blue, green, black, white and red coloured pencils. I had an idea of what she was doing.

Shadow kept glancing up at Milley, he was most probably wondering why she hadn't started bugging him yet. I could hear Amy and Sonia talking in the corner. They were starting new rumours about Milley, Knuckles and Silver, can't they ever just give everyone a break?

"Sapphire, get Marina out of that cupboard will you?" Milley asked as she held her picture in front of her.

"Okay! Sure thing!" I quickly ran into the cupboard "Hey Marina…" I heard a few things falling down and Marina scream quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I am fine." She stood up and put the things that had fallen back on the shelves. "What is it?"

"Oh right! Milley wants you to come out here for a minute." I started to pull her out of the cupboard. I pushed her into the seat next to Sonic, I made sure that she was sat in the blue chair.

"Hey Marina!" Milley said. She then whispered something to Sonic. He nodded and Milley smiled. I sat back down in my chair. "Ahem…" Milley said as she clambered on to the table. "Hey everyone! Can I have your attention! I have an important announcement to make!"

"Watch Amy…" I heard Sonic whisper in my ear. I nodded.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Milley. Milley walked to the end of the table so that everyone could see her.

"Okay, Everyone paying attention?" She smiled. "Well, I would like to say one thing. Sonic is gay!" I felt Sonic clutch my hand tightly. "Sonic kissed Shadow, and this is what surprised me the most! Shadow kissed him back!" Milley turned her picture around so that everyone could see.

I looked to Amy strait away. Her mouth was wide open. "WHAT!" She screeched. "Sonic! Please tell me that isn't true!"

"It's true Amy." Sonic said.

I then looked to Shadow, he sank down in his chair. I could see that his cheeks were going red. I started laughing. I suddenly blurted out "The ultimate life form is blushing!" Realising what I said, I covered my mouth. Shadow's eyes widened. He was looking right at me. Everyone was starting to go back to their drawings apart from Shadow, Amy, Sonic and me.

"You are gay!!" Amy cried in the background. I could see Sonic was dying to laugh at her face.

Shadow was still staring at me. "Shadow, don't tell me you are planning to cheat on Marina with Sapphire!" Milley said. Shadow frowned.

He then got up and went round the table grabbing my arm firmly. "Ow, Shadow that hurts!"

"I don't care!" He yanked me out of my chair and pulled me out of the classroom. He then pushed me against the wall, hard. "How do you know that!" He shouted at me.

"I-er-I…" I stuttered.

"Tell me! How do you know!" He pulled me away from the wall then pushed me against it again. I didn't know what to say. "Tell me!" I heard someone running out into the corridor. I was about to turn and see who it was when… "Pay attention to me!" He punched me, forcing me to lose balance and fall to the floor. "How do you know!"

"Shadow!" I heard someone yell. I looked over to who it was, as did he. "Don't you dare hit Sapphire!" Milley ran over to him and pushed him to the floor. She then grabbed my arm and helped me up. "Sapphire, are you okay?" I nodded looking down to Shadow. He just lay on the floor glaring at both me and Milley. Milley then pulled me into a hug.

We ran back to the classroom. "Are you okay Sapphire?" Espio asked. He was standing up and looked worried. I nodded. I was still in shock. Why the hell did I say that? How could I be so stupid! I am such an idiot!

Milley sat me down in my chair. I decided it was best not to speak about what happened. Milley understood and didn't say a word. Although, the red mark on my face really didn't help.

We ran outside as soon as art was over. It was nice and sunny outside, so we decided to 'hang out' with Knuckles, Espio and Shadow. Silver and Sonic joined us. I didn't think it was such a good idea that me, Shadow and Sonic were together.

Marina was sat next to Shadow on the table. He decided it would be easier to just ignore everyone else but Marina. I guess I am happy that he just isn't trying to kill me. Knuckles kept looking at Silver. Silver had his arm around Milley, which really didn't help. Espio, Sonic and I were just talking. Suddenly Knuckles stood up slamming his hands down on to the table. "Get away from Milley!" He shouted.

Silver looked up at him. "Why?"

"Because she was with me first! Then you took her away from me!" Knuckles shouted.

"I didn't do anything."

"You are going out with her!"

"Guys please calm down." Milley begged.

"She chose me over you!" Silver said standing up too. "It's up to her who she wants to be with!"

Knuckles ran around the table and pushed Silver to the floor. He started punching him and kicking him. Milley was half smiling and half worrying. Shadow and Marina stay put, they found it easier not to get involved. Espio and Sonic jumped up.

Espio pulled Knuckles off of Silver and held him back. Silver stood up and went to attack Knuckles. Sonic grabbed both of his arms and held him still. "If you liked Milley so much, why didn't you ask her out!"

Milley stood up. "Please don't fight-"

"Maybe because I was waiting for the right moment!" Knuckles tried to pull away from Espio, but Espio held him still. "You don't deserve Milley! You don't deserve anyone!" Knuckles carried on shouting. "You are just a stupid silver hedgehog!"

Silver managed to struggle free from Sonic. "No Silver don't!" I shouted.

He made a swing at Knuckles, when Milley jumped in front of him. He punched her, hard. "Milley, I am so sorry!" Silver said.

"Now look what you have done you stupid hedgehog!" Knuckles struggled free from Espio and bent down next to Milley.

Milley looked angry at them both. She looked at Silver. "Don't punch him! And you!" She pointed to Knuckles. "Don't you dare say that to him! That is mean and hurtful!" Milley stood up and walked away. Marina left Shadow and ran after her. I stayed sat there.

Knuckles and Silver looked really disappointed with themselves. They were both looking down and not talking. Shadow was glaring at me. Again. Sonic was completely shocked, yet I noticed he was looking at Silver abit differently. Espio was watching us all. Silence.

I was first to speak. "how could you two be so damn stupid!" I shouted. They looked at me strangely. I don't normally shout. But this time...I lost it. "You are being complete idiots! I know you both love Milley, but that doesn't mean you have to fight over her! Did you even think about how hard that was for her to watch that! Did you? You are both stupid!" I stopped. Now I remember why I try and stay quiet.

"Shut up you bloody fox." Shadow said. I glared at him.


	19. Fights For Love

Espio spoke up. "Sapphire is right." He was being more calm than me, that's for sure. "You were being idiots. You should both apologise to each other, then Milley."

"He is the one that punched her!" Knuckles shouted at Espio, while pointing at Silver.

"I don't care! You both owe her an apology." Espio continued.

"You are both being babies." Shadow said plainly, leaning on the table in front of him. I was about to speak then Shadow interrupted me. "We don't need your opinion fox!" I folded my arms and stayed quiet.

"Shadow! Stop treating her like that!" Espio shouted. "You don't have any reason to treat her that way!"

"Yes, I do." He said glaring at Espio.

"Oh yeah, what?" Sonic said. "Ever since you met her she has been nothing but nice to you."

He glared at me. "I do have a reason. I just can't tell you." He whispered.

I shook my head. "This shouldn't be about me!" I looked at everyone. "It's about Milley, not me."

"Well I am not apologising for him!" Knuckles shouted. He tackled Silver again. "It is his fault! He is the one that hurt Milley!" He punched Silver hard. I looked away.

"Knuckles!" Espio yelled. Shadow stood up and ran around the table.

"Silver!" Sonic gasped. "Knuckles leave Silver alone!" I looked back to them, Sonic was charging over to Knuckles. Silver was holding on to his nose and Espio was trying to hold Knuckles away from Silver.

I grabbed Sonic's arm and held him back. "Stop this." I whispered to him. "Please?" Sonic stopped pulling forward and I let go.

"You are right Sapphire." He walked over to Silver slowly. "Silver? Are you okay?" Silver was shaking.

"What do you think you bloody hedgehog!" His eyes were closed, tight. Sonic looked hurt, but still sat next to Silver, trying to calm him down. Being a good friend. The complete opposite to me.

I didn't even follow Milley. I looked the way Milley and Marina had ran. I felt someone grab my arm. I looked to who was holding on to me. It was Shadow. "I will go. You stay here, Sapphire."

I looked at him weirdly. He let me go and started to walk the way in which Marina and Milley had ran off to. I smiled. He had never called me Sapphire before. I turned back to the scene behind me. That made my face drop.

Knuckles seemed to be the only trouble now. I walked over to him. "Knuckles?" I asked quietly. He looked at me. I could see his eyes were full of anger. I stepped away slightly. "Knuckles, are you sure Milley would want to see you this way? Like this, being so angry?" He didn't seem to care what I was saying. He wasn't even listening to me. I sighed. "Knuckles. Milley loves you too."

He looked at me abit stunned. "What do you mean? She is going out with that thing over there!"

I looked at Silver, then back to Knuckles. "She is in a love triangle okay?" I said. "She didn't know what to do. Milley loves you both." Knuckles stopped trying to pull away from Espio. Espio let him drop to the floor. I knelt down next to him. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "So, Milley still loves...me?"

"Yes, she does."

Knuckles punched the ground. It left a dent. "I am so stupid!"

"No arguments here." I heard Milley say. I turned around to looked at her. She still looked a little upset. She knelt down next to Silver. "Silver, are you okay?"

"What do you think!" Silver snapped back.

"Don't speak to her that way." Knuckles said calmly. "She deserves better than to be spoken to like that."

I stood up and hugged Espio. "Sapphire, promise me we won't have a fight like that." He said to me. I knew he was joking, but I couldn't promise him that. I never break a promise. I just smiled and kissed him. He can take it which ever way he wants. It isn't a yes, and it isn't a no.

"Wait, where are Marina and Shadow?" I asked. Milley grinned at me. I shook my head. "No thinking dirtily allowed!" I said quickly.

"Aww! Man!" Milley smiled, still leaning over Silver. I looked past her to find Sonic glaring at her. I smiled.

"Now, now Sonic. Don't get jealous. Milley got there first." I said to him. He blushed slightly then stood up. Milley laughed at him. Knuckles was gazing at Milley. He still loved her. It was obvious his love was pure, but I was starting to have doubts about Silver.

Marina wasn't on the bus home today, neither was Shadow. I hadn't seen them since break time. Milley was talking to Silver the whole way home. She had invited him round to her house for him to sleep over. Knuckles was talking to Espio quite happily. As for me, I was texting Rouge. She was upset. She had said how he was already going out with another girl, or something like that. She was getting in such a state over it.

My night was pretty lonely. Everyone was busy. Everyone was with everyone else and me and Espio were both loners, but when I invited him over, he said he was busy. More ninja stuff I guess.

Rouge went off to spy on Knuckles, so she wouldn't be coming over anytime soon. And if I asked Knuckles, Rouge would kill me.

I sighed. I text Marina. "Hey, I am lonely, talk to me please?"

She didn't reply for a while. But when she did she said: "Sorry, Saph, I am busy."

"Doing what?"

"Having fun." She replied with. Okay, sure that is not hurtful at all.

I sighed. My last hope was Shadow. I texted him. "Hey there. I know you don't like me but...I am bored! Please save me!"

He replied. "Go away, I have more fun things to do than spend time with you!"

Fun? Is it me or is everyone using that word today? Perhaps it is just me.

"Tails!" I shouted.

"What is it now Sapphire?" He called up to me.

"I am bored! Help me find something to do!"

"You find something to do. I have homework!"

"Fine damn you!"

I started to give up. I curled up on my bed and slowly let myself fall asleep. The next thing I heard was my mobile going off next to me. I moaned and looked at the time. It was 2:00am. "Oh God, who is it?" I answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Sapphire!" It was Milley. It sounded like she was crying.

"What's wrong Milley?"

"I couldn't get a hold of Marina, so I rang you. I am sorry if I woke you."

"Of corse you woke me. It is 2:00am."

"I know, I know, I am so sorry, but I had to ring someone."

"How come? What's wrong?" I heard her sniff on the other side of the phone. "Milley?"

"It's Silver!" She sobbed. "H-he called me stupid and said that he hated me."

I imagined Espio doing that to me. It would hurt, a lot. "Oh, Milley." I said. "Don't cry. He just wasn't right for you okay? He really wasn't."

"But Sapphire, it really hurt me! I loved him so much! And just to hear him say he hated me, it just...I just didn't-" She started crying again.

"Milley, calm down. He hasn't been treating you right all day today. I don't think he is the one." I yawned. "Sorry if it sounds like I am blanking out your feelings but...why were you together at 2:00am?"

"We weren't, we were together at 12:00am." She paused for abit. "That was when he told me. But since then I have been trying to call Marina." Okay, so I was her last choice. I guess that makes me happy in some ways. At least she won't feel as hurt when I betray her, or will she. "Sapphire?"

"Sorry, I am tired. If I were you...I would try and get Silver back."

"Okay, who is this? Or did I find Sapphire's darkest time?"

"You can still joke when you are upset huh?"

"Yes! It is my personality!"

"Fine. And no, this isn't my darkest moment. My darkest moment will arrive soon...I know."

"Okay so you are physic?"

"No, Milley it is really early in the morning can I please go to bed? I will help you with your problem later on today okay? I just need sleep to keep up with school."

"Fine then! Leave me in my time of need!" She hung up the phone. I threw my phone on the floor and fell back onto my bed.


	20. To school

Back to the bus stop

Back to the bus stop. I was alone so far. Espio hadn't quite arrived yet. G.U.N. has been ringing me a lot lately. They won't stop annoying me. I think my time with these missions is running out. Milley still hasn't found my darkest hour. I know when it does happen, she will be there watching me.

All I can think about is the fact that I have to betray my friends. When I am around them that is all I can think about. But I put on a happy face and try to act, like nothing will change. The time I have left with them has to be special, it has to stay with me. I have to remember our friendship. I have to make sure that I make them happy until my darkest day comes. I know after that day, the only friend I will have is Rouge. I know Marina won't forgive me for what I will do to Shadow and Milley.

Today I actually have a special message for Marina. It is from my brother. He told me to tell her that he doesn't like her the way he used to anymore. I know now that he has a crush on Cream. At last, it takes him long enough to find someone his age, who actually likes him back! I have to say, I feel sorry for Cosmo though. I have a feeling she likes him too. He is just to dense to see any of this.

"Hey Sapphire!" Espio shouted down the street waving to me. I smiled.

"Hi Espio." I hugged him. "I am happy to see you again!"

"Yeah, sorry I haven't been talking to you much recently. I don't want you to think I am avoiding you." He smiled at me. "I have just had a lot of things on my mind."

"Ditto." I sighed. "Hey have you seen Shadow, Knuckles or anyone recently?"

"No, not really. Everyone seems to busy now a days." I nodded. "We should be busy together tonight."

I laughed. "Sure thing." He smiled and kissed me gently. The bus still hadn't come an hour later. We had missed half an hour of school now. "I don't think it's coming." I said.

"Yeah, I suppose you are right. Shall we walk?" Espio asked.

"Nah, I rather fly." He rolled his eyes at me.

"But I can't fly." I started to spin my tails around. "Okay, you fly...I walk next to you."

I shook my head. "I am sure I can walk for once." I stopped spinning my tails. We started to walk to school. It wasn't very exciting. We just chatted and put one foot in front of the other repeatedly.

No-one was at the bus stops. I am guessing that the bus had arrived earlier than usual. Typical.

Espio suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me back. He made me face him and he hugged me. "Hello there." I smiled. He kissed me tenderly on the lips. "I love you Sapphire." He whispered in my ear. I blushed.

"I love you too." I said.

"Hey! Love birds!" I turned around. It was Milley. She was dragging Knuckles along behind her. "Stop making out and get to school!"

I slapped my head. "Hey Milley."

"Hello! Hey I was wondering….did the bus arrive for you two, or did you just decide to walk to school so you had time alone?"

"The bus didn't arrive." I answered.

"But we walked to school so we could have time alone." Espio added. I blushed.

"Yeah, that's why we are walking." Knuckles said. He then hugged and kissed Milley.

"You two sorted everything out then huh?" Espio asked.

"We sure did, she couldn't keep away from me for long." Knuckles joked.

"Don't be so full of yourself." Milley poked him. "I sort of rang him last night at 3:00am."

"How many people did you ring altogether Milley?" I asked

"Just 4...Marina, you, Knuckles and Espio." She paused.

"Oh yeah, but you just rang me to bug me, because you hate me so much." Espio remembered.

"Yes! And that was fun!" Milley smiled.

"Er...guys, do you mind if I say, we are an hour late for school!" I started to panic. "We are going to be so dead! Oh, what should we do? I don't want to get into trouble!"

"Calm down Sapphire, everything will be fine. We will just tell them the bus didn't turn up." Espio tried to calm me down.

"Yeah, we will just say the truth." Knuckles added.

"Aww, but that is no fun!" Milley exclaimed.

"What would be your plan then?" Knuckles asked her.

"I would say I died and came back to life!" Milley said.

My mobile started to ring. I looked at the caller ID, not that I needed to, it was G.U.N. again.

"G.U.N.?" Espio said. "Why are they ringing you!"

Milley started to freak out. "Hide me!" She ducked behind Knuckles.

I sighed. "Hold on." I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Sapphire, sorry if you are in school, but we need the reports on that ninja soon! He has been taking our files again!" It was Rouge.

"Rouge, I am with him now, it would help if you didn't keep ringing me 24/7. I will give them to you soon though okay?" I hung up the phone before she answered and turned off my mobile.

"You will give her what?" Espio asked.

"Oh-er– I will give her….her jumper, she left it at my house the other day." I quickly made up.

"Wait, who are you with? You said you were with him now." Milley added.

"I was with Knuckles." He tensed. "Remember Milley, she likes him."

"Oh yeah!" Milley exclaimed. "Lucky devil!" She teased.

"Who the hell is Rouge?" Knuckles asked. "I have never even heard of her before."

"That's a good thing. She is just a friend from G.U.N." I paused. God I am stupid.

"Do you work for G.U.N.?" Knuckles asked calmly.

"No. I hate G.U.N., the only person I know from there is Rouge." I lied. I know almost everyone from there.

"If I ever find that Rouge girl I am going to kill her!" Milley said. "I hate G.U.N. I hate them!"

Thanks for that. I wonder what she would do if she found out? "Oh well, can we please get to school now! Please!" I begged.

"Okay, okay fine then!" Milley said. We started to walk to school again.

We were soon at the school after we had stopped talking. I was very lucky that they didn't figure out I worked for G.U.N., that was so close. I will have ago at Rouge later for ringing me there and then.

Marina was being very quiet in school. She wouldn't even speak to Shadow today. Everytime he walked past us she looked down and blushed. He couldn't even seem to look at her himself. Something must have happened.

"So Marina, why won't you talk to Shadzy lately? Did he forget a date?" Milley asked curiously.

"What makes you think it was Shadow!" Marina panicked. "It was nothing to do with him!"

"Okay...when you put like that, it sounds like it had everything to do with him." Milley said. "He forgot a date didn't he? Yeah! I mean he is so forgetful, he should be a damn goldfish! OH! New nick name! Red fish! Perfect."

"No comment." I said, silently laughing.

"No, he did not forget a date. We didn't even have one!" Marina tried to convince us.

"I bet you are hiding something from us! I know you are!" Milley said. "I promise, I will find out what!"

"But Milley, there is nothing to find out!" Marina said, trying to stay calm.

"You are not really helping yourself Marina." I said. "You should just not talk to her."

"Hey no! That is just not fair on me! Marina talk to me please?" Marina ignored her. "WAHHHHH! Now look what you have done Fire! She will never talk to me again now!"

"Her name is Saph!" Marina argued.

"Oh please, not this argument again!" I said.

"Yay! She talked to me!" Milley hugged Marina. I smiled at the both of them.

'The princess and the immortal are very close.' I remembered G.U.N. saying to me. I gasped. "No!" I shouted. Milley and Marina looked at me. Oops.

Knuckles along behind her. "Stop making out and get to school!"

I slapped my head. "Hey Milley."

"Hello! Hey I was wondering….did the bus arrive for you two, or did you just decide to walk to school so you had time alone?"

"The bus didn't arrive." I answered.

"But we walked to school so we could have time alone." Espio added. I blushed.

"Yeah, that's why we are walking." Knuckles said. He then hugged and kissed Milley.

"You two sorted everything out then huh?" Espio asked.

"We sure did, she couldn't keep away from me for long." Knuckles joked.

"Don't be so full of yourself." Milley poked him. "I sort of rang him last night at 3:00am."

"How many people did you ring altogether Milley?" I asked

"Just 4...Marina, you, Knuckles and Espio." She paused.

"Oh yeah, but you just rang me to bug me, because you hate me so much." Espio remembered.

"Yes! And that was fun!" Milley smiled.

"Er...guys, do you mind if I say, we are an hour late for school!" I started to panic. "We are going to be so dead! Oh, what should we do? I don't want to get into trouble!"

"Calm down Sapphire, everything will be fine. We will just tell them the bus didn't turn up." Espio tried to calm me down.

"Yeah, we will just say the truth." Knuckles added.

"Aww, but that is no fun!" Milley exclaimed.

"What would be your plan then?" Knuckles asked her.

"I would say I died and came back to life!" Milley said.

My mobile started to ring. I looked at the caller ID, not that I needed to, it was G.U.N. again.

"G.U.N.?" Espio said. "Why are they ringing you!"

Milley started to freak out. "Hide me!" She ducked behind Knuckles.

I sighed. "Hold on." I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Sapphire, sorry if you are in school, but we need the reports on that ninja soon! He has been taking our files again!" It was Rouge.

"Rouge, I am with him now, it would help if you didn't keep ringing me 24/7. I will give them to you soon though okay?" I hung up the phone before she answered and turned off my mobile.

"You will give her what?" Espio asked.

"Oh-er– I will give her….her jumper, she left it at my house the other day." I quickly made up.

"Wait, who are you with? You said you were with him now." Milley added.

"I was with Knuckles." He tensed. "Remember Milley, she likes him."

"Oh yeah!" Milley exclaimed. "Lucky devil!" She teased.


	21. Shortened chapter

Milley started laughing at me. "Okay, Saph why did you shout 'no'?" Marina asked.

"I-I, you are, but I am, and….Why! Oh God my life sucks!" I ranted.

Marina looked at me strangely. "What?"

"I really have to go...I will see you guys later!" I quickly picked up my bag and ran away from them. Always my friends! Why! Why is it always them! I ran to Sonic, I knew he wasn't one I was searching for, I knew he was the only one I could go to now. I wiped my eyes. I saw Sonic and I wrapped my arms around him, crying.

"Sapphire?" He said, he sounded surprised. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" I just carried on crying and didn't answer him. He seemed to understand I didn't want to tell him. He hugged me and tried to calm me down. Eventually I stopped crying. "Do you feel better now?" Sonic asked me, handing me a glass of water. 

I nodded as I took the glass from his hand. "I am sorry."

"Don't be." He said smiling. "What was wrong?" I looked at him and shook my head. I couldn't tell him. I couldn't tell anyone. He nodded. "Okay. Do you want to go back with Milley and Marina now?" 

I could feel tears coming back. I shook my head. "No, I can't I just can't Sonic. I can't face them anymore." 

He hugged me. "I understand. Don't worry, just stay with me." I smiled.

I am glad to say it was home time. I didn't speak to Milley or Marina for the rest of the day. I told Espio that I couldn't go with him tonight. I told him I had stuff to do. Really, I did. I had to write about Marina. Everything I knew about her. It is official, I will have no friends. I may as well just die now. I looked out through the window of the bus. I could hear Milley and Marina talking in the background, but I didn't want to know what they were saying. I blanked it out completely. I couldn't even look at them today. I just couldn't bring myself to.

I got off the bus and walked home slowly. My life is so going down the drain. I don't really have anything to look forward to now.

I dropped my bag on the floor and took out my papers for G.U.N. I started to write my newest one, I started to write about Marina. Once I had finished I folded it into its place. I now had all five files. I dialled Rouge's number. She answered. "Hello?"

"Rouge, tell the boss I will take care of the missions tomorrow. I am done." I hung up the phone again and started to cry.

"Sapphire, are you okay?" Tails asked. "I can hear you crying."

"Please go away Tails." I said. "I am just upset."

"Okay, if you want me to leave you, I will." I heard him walking away from my door.

I curled up on my bed. It was starting to get late. I will continue my plan tomorrow. I only wish, tomorrow would never come.


	22. Betrayal

I went to the hall today. I didn't even go to lessons. I just wanted to be alone. Fortunately, this was the one day of the week where no one had P.E.

I heard the word "-Control." Echo around the room. I turned around. It was Shadow. "You!" He said. I looked at him curiously.

Shadow seemed to look really angry at me this time. I was scared, I stepped back. Shadow thrust his hand forward whispering the words "Chaos spear." I saw a bright light heading towards me.

"No!" I suddenly heard. I turned spotting Espio. He pulled me down to the floor. I was shaking with fear, I clutched on to his arms. "Shadow how dare you do that to Sapphire!" I closed my eyes. I felt a tear run down my cheek.

"Don't protect that traitor!" Shadow shouted to Espio. My grip tightened on Espio's arms. How did he find out? How did he know?

"How can you call sapphire a traitor?" Espio asked calmly.

I looked at Shadow, he merely glared at me. "That thing has betrayed us all!" I pulled my arms around Espio wishing for one last hug. Shadow turned to me. "Don't act all innocent! You betrayed us all! You work for G.U.N.!"

I could feel Espio tensing. "She can't be working for them."

"Well she is. Ask her yourself, ninja boy!" Espio looked at Shadow strangely.

"How?-" Espio whispered.

"I found her papers, all her reports, everything! Milley is immortal, marina is a princess, you are a ninja and Knuckles is protector of the master emerald!" He threw down all my research. "All this tells you everything! It shows how she is a mistake and can't be trusted!" Shadow kicked the papers to Espio.

Espio pulled away from me, flicking through page after page of my work. He looked at me, stunned. "How could you Sapphire?" he asked calmly. "How could you do this to us!" He started to yell. "We trusted you as a friend and this is how you repay us!"

I felt so guilty. I never wanted to do this, but I had to. I put one hand behind my back. I grasped hold of my weapon, a gun. I pulled it out from behind me quickly. Espio backed away as he saw what I was holding. He leapt back and stood next to Shadow.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. I pointed the gun at my only love. I started to pull the trigger.

"Sapphire...please, no." He said slowly. He didn't move. It was like he was frozen. "Please." He begged. I looked away as I pulled harder on the trigger. I heard the gun shoot. I heard Espio cry out in pain and fall to the floor.

I looked back to Espio. Shadow was over him. I could see Espio's blood flooding onto the floor. I could hear his shallow breathing. I stood up. Shadow looked at me. "You should die!" he charged at me, throwing me back into the wall. I fell to the floor. I didn't move. "Espio, come on Espio." I could hear Shadow saying. I felt tears running down my cheeks. How could I have done that? "Espio please! You are my friend!" Espio's breathing had stopped. I looked up with tears in my eyes. His eyes were closed. His chest wasn't moving. That was when I knew, it was too late. Shadow lay Espio down. "How dare you!" He shouted. I looked at him, still laying on the floor, powerless. "You are so dead when I am finished with you!"

I was scared, yet I couldn't move. I heard someone burst in through the door. I saw the gun in my hand and hid it immediately. I looked over to the door to see Milley and Marina. They saw the scene which they had entered. They couldn't seem to speak. Marina saw me laying helplessly on the floor. She rushed over to me. "No." I whispered.

"Shadow! What did you do?" Milley shouted, glaring at Shadow. He frowned. He picked up the papers and handed them over to Milley. She read through them quickly. Her eyes widened. "Marina, get away from Sapphire, NOW!" She shouted.

Marina back away from me. "Why?" I could hear the fear in her voice.

"Princess," I gathered enough energy to sit up. Marina gasped as I pulled out my gun. I held her tightly so that she couldn't escape. I then put the gun to her head. I could see she was shaking and starting to cry. "If you don't let me go, I will kill her."

Milley looked at Shadow. He sighed. "Don't hurt her. Please?"

"Sapphire, you can't hurt her!" Milley shouted angrily. "She is your friend! How can you be doing this!" A red glow appeared around her. I backed away and let Marina go.

I knew this was the curse. I backed into the wall behind me, as Milley closed her eyes. I grabbed Marina. "Shadow! Listen to me!" He looked at me.

"Don't touch her!" He pulled Marina away from me. "Don't you dare lay a finger on-"

I didn't have time. I interrupted him. "SHADOW! Use chaos control and get Marina out of here now!"

He glared at me and hugged Marina. "Chaos control." They were both engulfed in a glow of pale green light. I ran around Milley and knelt next to Espio. He was gone. I knew I couldn't bring him back. I allowed my tears to fall on him as I hugged his body. I didn't ever want to let go. I wished that I could be with him forever. I could feel his blood settling on my dress. I cried quietly.

Milley turned to me and opened her eyes. Her eyes were narrow. I could see her pupils had grown smaller, mere black slits in her deep brown eyes. Her hair had become darker and her bandana had vanished. She glared at me. I held Espio's body closer to me. "Milley, please...try to-"

I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I turned to the door. I could see a shadow approaching us. I looked at Milley, she was closer to me now. I backed away dragging Espio with me, leaving a trail of blood behind. I looked back out to the hall as I backed away. The shadow was bigger now. "Don't come in here!" I screamed. I heard them start to run. The footsteps were faster. I then saw Knuckles running towards the door. He stopped in the doorway.

He saw me holding onto Espio. His mouth opened. He looked at Milley. "Sapphire, what has happened?" He looked abit scared. I couldn't speak. I was too scared to speak to him now. "Milley!" He called to her. "What are you doing?" I could see the fear in his eyes. "Milley!" He shouted, she faced him. He could obviously see that she had changed. I kissed Espio slowly and stood up, leaning him against the wall.

Milley ran at Knuckles, I gasped. I ran quickly to him, dropping my gun. I grabbed him and dragged him down to the floor with me. Milley stopped. She picked me up by my neck, she started to squeeze tighter. I was gasping for air. I tried to push her away. "What is happening?" Knuckles asked as he stood up. He could see that I was losing oxygen. "I am sorry Milley." He pulled his arm back to punch her.

"Don't." I whispered. Knuckles stopped and looked at me. "D-don't touch, her." Knuckles nodded. I grabbed Milley's arm I tried twisting it forcing her to let go. It was no use. I am sure that this was the end for me.


	23. Saved

"-Control

"-Control." Echoed through the hall. I smiled. It was Shadow, but why was he coming back for me? "Hey Milley!" I heard him yell. She looked at him keeping a firm grip around my neck. I looked to Shadow too. "Come and get me then!" He pulled random faces at Milley. Milley dropped me to the floor. I took in a deep breathe. I could finally breathe again. Milley went over to Shadow. Knuckles came to me. Just when Milley was next to Shadow, he muttered "Chaos control." A light appeared throughout the room. He appeared again next to Knuckles and me. "Come on then." He whispered as he grabbed the both of us. "Chaos control." I closed my eyes as the light went around me and soon faded once more.

"Cool…" I heard Knuckles whisper next to me.

Shadow suddenly pushed me to the floor. "I didn't want to save you, you know." I looked at him. "But I didn't have a choice." He pointed to Marina.

"Saph-Sapphire, I-I didn't want you to die." She couldn't seem to look at me. "But...how could you do this to us? Your friends?"

Knuckles still looked very confused. I started to cry. "What happened?" Knuckles asked again.

Shadow sighed. "That thing." He said pointing at me. "Works for G.U.N. She killed Espio. She knows all our secrets, everything."

I wiped my eyes slowly. "Espio is gone." I whispered. "And it is all my fault." I carried on crying. I didn't expect them to comfort me and I didn't mind that they didn't. "Please...please forgive me." I begged. "Please."

"No." Shadow said firmly.

"I don't know Sapphire. I don't know if I can." Marina said. Knuckles stayed silent.

" Shadow, take me back to Milley." I sniffed. "I want to die. I can't live with this guilt. Please."

"No arguments here." Shadow said grabbing my arm.

"Shadow, please don't take her back." Marina whispered. She looked at me. "Your punishment, Saph, is losing Espio and one friend." She knelt own next to me and hugged me. I was surprised. "I won't be the friend you lose." I felt a tear land on my arm.

"Marina, I am so sorry." I cried. "I really am."

"Milley." Knuckles said. "We left her in the school!"

"Milley can't control herself when she is like this." I whispered. "She will kill whoever she can...good or bad."

"We have to stop her then." Marina said. "How do we stop her?"

"I have no idea. But we have to try." I stood up. "Shadow, take me back to the school." Shadow nodded and grabbed my arm.

"Chaos-" He started.

"wait. Take me too." Knuckles said, standing next to Shadow. I smiled and held his hand.

"Anyone else want to die today?" Shadow asked. "No? Good! Chaos control!" I felt someone grab my hand just as we were engulfed in the light. I smiled. I knew it was Marina.


	24. The Battle

"-Control

We appeared in front of Milley. The red aura was still glowing around her and her eyes were still narrow and full of hatred. I saw she was holding someone, by the neck, up against the wall. I gasped. Milley looked at the four of us. She dropped the person she had in her grip. I looked around her, it was Amy. I looked back to Milley. She was walking over to us. Knuckles and Marina backed away slowly. "Milley." Marina said. "You can't do this, it's wrong. Please snap out of it."

"Milley, it is my fault you are like this. You can't hurt them for my faults okay?" I said bravely. I was secretly shaking.

"Hey, you!" Shadow said, trying to get Milley's attention. "Listen to Sapphire, blame her, kill her. Not anyone else."

"Shut it Shadow!" Marina demanded.

I rolled my eyes. "Milley, I-" I was interrupted. Milley charged at us, I jumped out of the way, just managing to dodge her attack. Milley hit Knuckles, charging him back into the wall, creating a dent. Milley jumped away from him. Knuckles had his eyes closed tightly as he slid down the wall, he was gripping his chest. He hit the floor and fell on his side.

"Who is next then?" Milley asked. I was surprised to hear her talk. Her voice was low and serious. I looked around the hall. I could see Espio still laying there. I then looked at Amy, it was obvious she was gone too. I could feel tears springing back to me, I waved my hands in front of my face to try and stop myself from crying.

"What the fuck are you doing Sapphire?" Shadow asked me.

"Trying not to cry." I answered quickly.

Milley turned to Marina. "Milley, pl-please don't…" Marina stuttered. Shadow's eyes widened. He grabbed the thing closest to him and chucked it at her.

"Shadow don't do that!" I said. The object hit Milley's red aura, it went springing back to Shadow. He moved quickly, The object went crashing to the ground with such force that it broke into millions of pieces. I gasped.

"Woah." Shadow said. Milley then turned to Shadow. She grabbed his neck and held him up. "Mi-Milley, let...let go…." He asked as she squeezed his neck more. I didn't know what to do, it was obvious Marina didn't know either.

"Milley! You have to stop this now!" I shouted at her. "If you have to kill anyone, kill me! I am the one who started this and you know that! But please go back to normal! Please!" She ignored me and just held Shadow's neck tighter. I looked around. I spotted my gun laying on the floor. I didn't have a clue what else to do. I ran to it. I picked it up and pointed it at Milley. "I am sorry if this works." I whispered. I knew it most probably wouldn't, but I hoped that the impact from the bullet would break through and hit her, so that we could save everyone who was left in this school. I pulled the trigger looking away as I did so. I heard the gun shoot. I looked back to her quickly. The bullet was heading back at me. I moved, but it caught me.

I grasped my arm as I slammed my eyes shut and dropped my gun. I screamed out in pain. I heard someone fall to the floor. I opened my eyes. Milley had dropped Shadow. I was happy to see that he was still breathing. Milley was heading over to me slowly. "You tried to shoot me." She said. I backed away from her still holding my arm tightly.

She went to grab my neck when something hit her. She span around searching for the person who chucked something at her. I looked beyond her. It was Knuckles. "Please stop this." He begged. "You are not like this. You would never hurt your friends. Not the people who are closest to you. Although I have to say, I am not surprised you killed Amy." Knuckles started to walk over to Milley. "Please Milley, please just go back to normal. This half of you scares me, I admit. I am begging you Milley, go back, because, I love you."

The red aura around Milley started to fade. I could see Milley was crying slightly. Her headband appeared again holding her hair back off her face. I could see her eyes were back to their normal size. I smiled. Milley hugged Knuckles and cried. Knuckles held her tightly. "Don't cry Milley, everything will be ok."

I walked away from the both of them and walked to Espio again. I knelt down next to him. "I am so sorry Espio," I whispered still holding my arm. "I am so sorry."


	25. End

It has been a month now since the incident

It has been a month now since the incident. Milley refuses to talk to me. Not surprised mind. Shadow tries to avoid me completely, Marina still talks to me, which I am happy about. Knuckles still talks to me, but he has certainly not forgiven me at all. I quit G.U.N. at last. I am now hanging out with Silver and Sonic all the time. Fortunately for me, none of the guys have said a thing about what happened a month ago.

People around the school have been wondering where Espio and Amy have been. They have also been asking me 24/7 what happened to my arm. I can't exactly tell them.

I sat on the bench as Sonic and Silver hugged. They had finally got together. They didn't seem to mind what people said about them and I was glad about that.

I watched them kiss and laughed. "You really don't care what people say do you?" I asked randomly.

"Nope not at all, if we did then we would just be mindless zombies who are obsessed with fashion." Sonic joked.

"Yeah, I am so glad you two finally decided to give it a try." I said.

"Me too." Silver agreed. "I like our little group, it is just me, you and Sonic. The three musketeers."

"The good thing is, Sapphire doesn't care what we do, she doesn't complain if we kiss. Marina would feel abit awkward most probably and Milley would celebrate making us feel awkward." Sonic admitted. I sighed at the sound of my ex-friends names. "By the way, does anyone know why Milley isn't in today?"

"No, but I never see her since we broke friends." I said gloomily.

"Hey Sapphire!" I heard someone calling over to me. It was Marina. She hasn't called me Saph since the day that everything happened. I waved to her. "Y'know Milley isn't in!" She said sounding happy about it.

I nodded. "Yeah we were just saying how we haven't seen her at all today."

"Right, well that's because she is fixing this thing." I raised an eyebrow. Marina seemed over happy. "Anyway, never mind about what I was going to say, I can't remember now. Can I stay with you guys today?"

I nodded. "Sure. You will have to excuse these guys being gay though Marina."

"That's fine with me, please carry on!" She said smiling.

"Why are you so happy?" I asked.

"You will see, later." She said still smiling.

"I haven't been happy in a while unfortunately, although I have to admit, I enjoy hanging out with these guys." I paused. "Not that I didn't enjoy being with you and Milley it's just, I-er-I" I started to panic.

"Calm down Saph." Marina said. I smiled hearing one of my old nicknames.

"Hey, you called me Saph." I said joyfully.

"So I did, hmm." Marina stopped and thought about it for a while. I shook my head. The bell rang. I jumped up and ran into the school to class. We had art, surprise, surprise. Shadow looked happy today. I was guessing it was because Milley wasn't in so now he won't be teased. That or the thing that Marina is happy about.

Knuckles ran over to the classroom and tackled Shadow to the ground. "Hey Shadzy!" He said. "Milley rang me and told me to tease you in art today!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Shadow glared at me. "You shouldn't be laughing at us bloody fox!" He said. "You have nothing to do with us!" I smiled, things felt back to normal for some reason today. Marina was using my nickname again, Shadow was still calling me 'bloody fox' and finally talking to me once more and all of them were happy.

Shadow pushed Knuckles off of him. "Hey! Fun spoiler!" Knuckles shouted. Shadow stood up then helped Knuckles up too.

I finally gathered enough courage to talk to Shadow and Knuckles. "Why are you two so happy today?" I asked. "It is like everyone knows something which I don't."

"We wouldn't tell you what it was." Shadow said firmly. I sighed. "Besides, you will find out soon." I put my head to the side. Shadow never spoke to me like that before, even before the incident, he never spoke to me like that.

"We found out you quit G.U.N." Knuckles blurted out. Sonic and silver looked at me. I sighed and pulled Knuckles away from the crowd.

"What do you mean? How do you know I quit?" I asked. "I didn't tell anyone."

"Oh! That's easy! Es-" Shadow covered Knuckles' mouth.

"Shut it!" Shadow growled. He then dragged Knuckles away from me and went into the classroom. I ran after them and sat in my place. Everyone is acting very strangely today. They all seem happy, and they are actually talking to me.

"Saph, cheer up!" Marina poked me. "It is a good day today! Be happy!"

"Marina, you know I can't be happy, not yet." I whispered.

"Yes you can, things are changing." She whispered to me. "Come with me tonight. Knuckles, Shadow and I are going to Milley's house. Come with us."

"No." I said firmly. "I don't think that is a good idea. You know how Milley has been treating me since that day. Things don't change that fast"

"Some things do. And this thing does." Marina said. "Hold on." She reached into my pocket and pulled out my mobile. "Can I text her?" She asked. I nodded. Marina started tapping on the keypad of my phone. She then sent her a message. We waited patiently. My phone started vibrating. She opened the message, I was surprised to see Milley had text me back. "Sapphire, you are coming!" Marina read. I looked at the message, Milley had said that. I was so confused. Milley had refused to talk to me, she told me that she would never forgive me. So why was she forgiving or talking to me now? Only a month later.

"Okay, I will come." I said. "I have to find out why everyone is acting so differently today."

Marina smiled and nodded. She was about to answer me when: "Girls stop talking!" The teacher said. I sighed and started doing my work again. Everything is different today. Things are changing, for the better or for the worse I will have to see in due time.

Marina grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bus at Milley's stop. I was very nervous. I hadn't spoken to Milley in a month and now she is suddenly inviting me over to her house. Something seems to be wrong. I am also wondering why she wasn't in school today.

Knuckles and Shadow jumped off the bus after us. Knuckles punch my side friendlily. "I bet you are nervous huh?" I nodded unsurely. We arrived at her house. It was a good thing that her bus stop was near to her house, otherwise my now I most probably would have changed my mind.

Marina pulled me up to Milley's house. She knocked on the door. I could feel a lump in my throat. The door opened. It wasn't Milley. As I saw who it was I fainted.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "Where am I?" I asked. I rubbed my eyes.

"Hey Fire." Milley said quietly she was laying on the couch and seemed completely warn out.

""H-hey Milley." I said. " What happened?" I asked.

"Simple really, you fainted." Marina said.

"That's because I saw-" I was interrupted.

"Hey Sapphire." I span around. It was Espio. I smiled.

"Espio! But how? When? I don't understand." I was so confused.

Knuckles stepped up. "Ha! I am explaining this! For once I know more than you little fox!" He patted me on the head. "Basically, Milley found out that you quit G.U.N. and you tried to save all of us from her going crazy."

"But that doesn't explain how Espio is alive." I pointed out.

"I will explain that." Espio said. He sat next to me. "turns out Milley can bring people back to life. So she brought me back to life because I didn't deserve to die apparently."

"Yet Amy did." Marina added. "So Milley is thankful for going weird at that point." Milley nodded. "Also bringing Espio back took a lot out of her, so she is going to be laying around for a long time."

I hugged Espio and smiled. "I am so sorry for what I did. But I have quit G.U.N. now, I will never ever do anything like that again!"

"Oh, I know you quit G.U.N. I was the one that told these guys." Espio said smiling. "Don't forget, I am still a ninja."

I let go of espio and walked over to Milley. "Thank you also Milley." I hugged her.

She ignored me. "You are such a wannabe ninja, you know that right Espio." I laughed, as did everyone else all friends again at last.


End file.
